Inequality within Law Enforcement Agencies - Research Paper Example

? Should we impose “tougher laws” to combat the inequality within our law enforcement agencies? This paper discussed about the legitimacy of the implementation of “tougher laws” in overcoming inequalities. The introduction gives insight on how these discrepancies exist by illustrating how the demographics in the prison population have failed to reflect the composition of the real population. Self reporting surveys show that the rate at which crimes are committed by different groups in the population does not march the prosecution statistics. The methodology shows how the data for this research was conducted which was through comparing of different studies conducted on this topic. In the discussion it is revealed that the implementation of tough laws have made it even harder to reduce inequalities. The issue cannot be overcome by implementation of a single law and recommendations are made on how the discrepancies can be corrected. Introduction Inequalities in the American justice system continue to be rampant. This has mostly been displayed in dealing with the drug problem. It has been observed that when it comes to drug related crimes, the law treats races differently. There was a survey that was conducted in 1991 that reveals that the prison population mostly consists of poorly educated, young and poor people who were mostly from the minority ethnic groups. It also showed that there only 4% of the whole jail population was female despite the two genders being equally represented in the normal population. It also found that 40% of the population of the male was between the ages of 18-25 despite them being only 16% in the general population. 40% of the males under age of 25 were reported to have dropped out of school before the age of 16 and in the general population this group consists of 16% only (Garland, D. (2001: 120). For instance, only 14% of the African Americans use drugs but 38% of people convicted of breaking the drug laws are African American. Moreover, people who break drug laws of equal magnitude are given different sentences. Person who is convicted of being in possession of powder cocaine get a sentence that is 100 times lesser than those convicted of powder cocaine. These inequalities in the justice problem have been slowing down the efforts to overcome ethnic inequalities among other inequalities found in the society. It is not possible to completely eradicate racism in the population if the justice system which is supposed to safeguards the rights of all people regardless of their color, age or gender continues to practice these inequalities (Tonry, 2008: 238). This paper discusses whether having tougher laws would be successful in dealing with the existing inequalities. Literature review Different surveys have shown that the criminal justice system in American has continued to be structurally discriminative against the poor, minority and poorly educated persons. The Home office national survey conducted in 1991 show that the prison population is very different from the normal population. Another survey has also shown an overrepresentation of people with drug problems and mental disorders. This research showed that 38% of the prison population had a problem related to drug dependency while 25% were reported to have a mental problem. It is good to understand whether these discrepancies are as a result of there being inequalities in operations of the criminal system or that it originates from somewhere else. This can be done by conducting self reporting studies. In one recent survey conducted by the home security on youth and crime reveals that there was a widespread criminal activity among the young people. A self-reporting survey was conducted to investigate into this issue and it was found that the gender difference in offense was very small and did not reflect the conviction rates. It is thus evident that more young males got convicted for crimes while the females were not hunted down by the law despite the fact that they also committed the same crime. 1 in 2 males confessed to have committed a crime at some point while 1 in three females also confessed of the same. It is evident than the differences in offending between both males and females is lower compared to their proportions in jail where the female occupy just 4% of the whole prisons population. It was also observed that the afro-Caribbean show the same rate of offense as the white population. It also found that afro-Caribbean’s of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh origin had lower rate of being involved in crime. The self reporting survey also showed that there was a frail relationship between offending and social classes. From this study, it can be observed that using the official statistics on the people convicted for different crimes may not be valid in understanding why people commit crime. Such self reporting studies portend to the idea that the justice system could be biased. The bias could be resulting from the criminal system procedures which have put a lot of emphasize on monitoring the activities of the powerless. With the exclusion of women who are poorer and less powerful than men, the law is likely to convict the poor and powerless in the society. The powerful and rich are not the focus of the system (Pettus, 2005, 45). Moreover, when the powerful individuals or organizations are found on the wrong side of the law, they are able to hire great attorneys that find a way around the law such as making a settlement and most of these cases are not taken to court. It has been argued that the crimes that these powerful persons commit have far reaching effects on the society in general but the criminal system underemphasizes them while punishing the crimes with lesser impact. Steven Box conducted a research that in 1979 that showed that death resulting from occupational hazards was greater than those resulting from murder. In this ear, 23,000 deaths were recorded from occupational hazard and only 3000 from homicide. This is an instance where murder is committed by large organizations that have their way with the criminal system and are covered up as occupational hazard deaths. As it can be observed, the crimes committed by the powerful have far reaching effect than those committed powerless individuals. Box also argues that the criminal system has been constructed in such a way that it criminalizes the powerless while the powerful get away with the same crimes. This means that the definition of crimes such as rape, murder and assault are constructed to rule out other actions as crimes. For instance, rape is defined in the context of it being a forceful action or threatened physical coercion (Box, 1993: 34). This excludes the use of misrepresentation, power or deceit to get sexual favors which is sexual harassment and should fall under the same category as rape. Research Problem In order to comprehend the context of this inequality, the paper looks at the discrimination at institutional and personal level and how this has tainted the justice system role in protecting the people. In order to understand whether “tougher laws” will help deal with the inequality problems, there is the need to look at the larger structural problem that makes the minority to be disadvantaged. The currently systems that are used in American are inherited from the era of racial, social class and gender discrimination. Inequality is deeply embedded in the educational, employment, voice and housing structure. This is then reflected in the justice system. This means that developing laws against inequality would only reduce inequality but would not eradicate it (Hagan, 1995: 218). Absolute equality can only be achieved if these laws are enacted alongside the elimination of inequalities in the areas that have been mentioned. It can thus be observed that the issue of inequality is not only in the social system but that is present in the procedures, policies and practices of both public and private institutions. Research Methodology The nature of study In this study, secondary sources that talks about inequalities in the criminal systems were compared. The focus was on what the different researchers believed was the cause of the inequalities and which methods they felt was the most effective in eradicating the biases. From comparing the views of the different empirical researched conducted, it would then be possible to know whether imposing tough laws would help in dealing with the inequalities that the justice system exhibits. The studies used are based on self reporting surveys and the statistics on the demographics of the current jail population. The paper will also look at the historical development in the criminal system since the colonial days and try to understand how these developments have made the criminal systems to be the way it is today. Understanding the nature of the inequalities in the criminal justice system is important to both policy makers and people working in these systems such as attorneys and judges. It is important that they understand the historical development of the justice systems in order to avoid the mistakes committed by their predecessors. This study chooses to look at the inequality in criminal justice because this has become an area of focus by many people as American grown into a more democratic country (Garland, 2001: 56). It has been seen as an area that has been lagging behind in the fight of racism and other forms of discrimination. Results This study from the various publications discovered that there are several ways in which the law system is constructed in such a way that the powerless get incriminated while the powerful get away with major crimes. This happens in three main ways that will be scrutinized in this paper. These include, the bias treatment of some social groups, resource allocation and prosecution vigor. In terms of resource allocation, it is obvious that the justice system sets aside a lot of resources for dealing with crimes committed by the powerless and less resources are allocated for crimes committed by the more powerful people in the society. For instance, in the fiscal year 1996/95, 10.3 billion shillings were allocated to the justice system whit 66% of the money used to in the employment of police officers. In the same year, only 203 million were allocated to the enforcement of health and safety (Tonry, 2008: 54). The health and safety commission had only 4077 personnel recruited that year while there were 126, 00 police recruited in the same year. Another bias can be observed in the vigor put in place when dealing with the crimes committed by the powerless where the police force is used. However in dealing with corporate crimes, government departments, commission and other bodies are involved. These regulatory bodies include the monopoly and mergers commission and inspectorates of agriculture, quarries and mines, railway and explosives. The regulatory bodies have been given power to determine whether a case should be prosecuted or not and this gives the powerful leverage ((Pettus, 2005: 218). This regulatory process has created an avenue where activities that are conducted by organization despite the fact that they may have negative effects on the people are not seen as criminal activities as they are rarely taken to a court. In another case, there are more prosecution cases on social security than on tax fraud despite there being many cases where corporations fail to file the required tax returns. Because the justice system does not employ a lot of resources in following corporate tax defaulters, large companies send false financial statement robbing the government large amount of money. The resources are instead committed to prosecuting social security defaulters which has lesser income on the government. The other reason the biases in the criminal system exists is the treatment of certain groups of people as suspects. Police are bound to suspect a young black man of a crime and conduct search than on a white man of the same age. This explains why despite the self reporting survey indicating that the rate at which young people commit crime is same among the white and black young people; the black people are over represented in the prisons. Moreover, these reports have shown that drug offences are greater in the white population and this is not reflected in the jails where black people are overrepresented in cases involving drugs (Sieberg, 2005: 65). The police are expected to be just and fair in stopping people for searches. The police have however been reported to violate the rule of stopping people on reasonable suspicion. The poor are also viewed as a source of the misappropriation of social order and are thus likely to be stopped by the police. The policies on tough on crime has been applied in the past and have resulted in the increase of jail population but has not changed the composition and the poor, minority and young people continue to be overrepresented. In order to deal with the crime in the society, politicians have advocated for the tougher enforcement of the law. In the year 1972, the total prison population was only 200, 000, this had increased five folds by the year 1997 where the population reached over 2 million people. Today, the population is even higher than it was it was in 1997. This has created a great concern as the large prison populations continue to become a burden to the American taxpayers. Moreover, due to the existing war on drug policy started in 1980s, the composition of the prison population has changed with a great number being convicted of drug related crimes (Health & Safety Commission, 1997: 187). 60 % of the prisons inmates were convicted of drug crimes compared to only 25% in the 1980. It is obvious that the use of tougher laws have been ineffective in not only dealing with crime but that it has also been a major source of the increase in inequality in the justice system. This is because the implementation of these laws is naturally inclined to criminate a certain group of people. Discussion The current policies on the war on crime have disproportionately affected the minority not because they are involved in drug crimes more than the white people. One of the reasons why tougher laws on drugs has led to misrepresentation of the minority is the fact that it has resulted in the more minority people being arrested for drugs and there is harsher treatment of minority being who are convicted of drugs. The reason behind the conviction of black people for drugs is racial profiling. Over the years, the assumptions that black people are the most likely to commit crimes have dictated the investigation and hence the arrest of these groups of people (Sieberg, 2005: 67). The minority have also been a target of other crimes besides drugs such as robbery. This is because since the black and people of Hispanic origin have been labeled as the poor in the society, it is presumed they are the most likely to get involved in stealing and robbery. Because most minority people are economically disadvantaged, they are not able to a bargain plea and their cases end up in court where they have no chance of winning. Another thing that makes the minority to be disadvantaged is that the implementation if drug laws is easier in the impoverished neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods which are mostly occupied by the minority (Pettus, 2005:90). This implies that when the politicians’ calls for more enforcement of the laws, the minority are the ones who are mostly hunted down. In addition, the mandatory minimum such as the “three strikes” has led to the extension of the time non-violent offenders spend in jail. The non-violent offenders are mostly low level drug users. Moreover, over the last three years, more people have been sentenced for life over marijuana compared to other major crimes such as rape, murder and kidnapping. The mandatory laws have made it hard for judges to make litigate racial inequalities. This is because they have to follow strict sentencing procedures and laws. The judges are left powerless to change the game at the face of racial disparities that have been created by policing procedures and prosecutorial decision making. The courts have thus been forced to turn a blind eye even in cases where the find that the sentence they give is unfair. Moreover, there are several legal doctrines that have made it hard for the court to be challenged for racial misappropriation. In case where the judicial system has been challenged for allegation of racial discrimination, the use of procedural barriers and evidentiary thresholds has made it hard for the judges to be found guilty (Tonry, 2008: 54). It can thus be observed that having strict sentencing procedures make it hard for the jury or the court to intervene in cases that show racial misappropriation. The minorities have also been overrepresented in the juvenile system. Statistics have shown that there is a great tendency for minority youth to be held at intake, have petitions filed, be detained prior to adjudication, be held in secure confinement and be adjudicated delinquent more often than the while youths (Cole, 1999:30). They are also more likely to be transferred to adult courts more than the white youths. The inequalities of the court system have serious effects. One, it not only affects the prisoners and their families but also affects the court system as a whole. People lose faith in the system that is supposed to protect the people but succeeds in incriminating them. People have therefore lost fait on this system. The inequalities also have far reaching effects on health and the economy. The unfair incarceration of minorities who are mostly at the lower earning end makes it even harder for the families and the individuals to break from the cycle of poverty. This weakens the economy as these people have to rely on government aid to survive. Recommendations As has been observed, imposing of tougher laws has not helped in eradicating inequalities but has instead made it worse. As a matter of facts, there is no one single rule that can be used to eradicate the issue of inequality in the legal system. As has been explained, the inequality is rooted in the different the construct of different systems and its eradication would involve major reforms not only in the justice system but in other sectors such as education. Some of these reformations that need to be done is to create accountability in the issue discretion of prosecutors and police officers. Although there are strict rules that need to be followed in criminal procedure, they are executed by the individual prosecutors and police officers. There is need to create a new culture where arrests and prosecutions are not based on the background of the individual (Tonry, 2008: 65). This is a major change that would involve changing the manner in which the police are trained and a change in perception of crime that should start from the top prosecutors. Increasing the diversity of personnel in the legal systems would make help in promoting equality. This is because the mistreatment of minority by the justice system is associated with underrepresentation of the minority in the practice of law. If there are many minority personnel working within the system they would be in a position to represent their own and ensure that justice prevails. Capital punishment need to be put on hold because it has been observed that the current sentencing allow for the minority to receive this form of punishment unfairly (Sarat & Shoemaker, 2011: 50). The mandatory minimum sentencing laws need to be revised. This is because they have led to many non-violent offenders being unfairly locked up in jail for years. The drug control policy also needs to be revised where other methods of rehabilitation of drug users other than incarceration need to be used. There are among the several reformations that need to be made. Conclusion The inequalities that have been observed in the criminal system are a reflection of discrepancies that are present in other systems of America such as education, health and employment. Eradication of inequalities in the legal system needs to be conducted in the line with correction of other discrepancies in other systems. Americans need to change their perceptions and get rid of prejudices that they have against the minority people which have been inherited from the age of racial profiling. The criminal system should be on the lead in the elimination of inequalities and should be a system that all people regardless of their backgrounds should look up to for justice. References Box, S. (1993). Power, Crime and Mystification. Routledge: London. Cole, D. (1999). No equal justice: Race and class in the American criminal justice system. New York: New Press. Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2013). The American system of criminal justice. Garland, D. (2001). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press. Hagan, J. (1995). Crime and inequality. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press. Health & Safety Commission (1997). Annual Reports and Accounts 1996/97, Stationery Office: London. Pettus, K. I. (2005). Felony disenfranchisement in America: Historical origins, institutional racism, and modern consequences. New York: LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC. Sarat, A., & Shoemaker, K. (2011). Who deserves to die: Constructing the executable subject. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Sieberg, K. K. (2005). Criminal dilemmas: Understanding and preventing crime. New York, NY: Springer. Tonry, M. H. (2008). Crime and justice: A review of research. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press. Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2012). The Color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co. Read More