Color and Justice: Racism and Ethnicity in US State Prisons - Assignment Example

Color and Justice: Racism and Ethnicity in US State Prisons

Purpose of the study

In the recent past, there has been lots of discussion on color and how it has affected the US justice system. In the US, the number of Blacks who are incarcerated has far outdone that of the Whites. This has been seen in at least more than five states explaining the ongoing disparities in imprisonments in the USA. The paper will attempt to assess if this phenomenon occurs in Tucson, Arizona. According to the US Census Bureau of 2010, the number of African Americans stood at 12.6% of the entire Americans (U.S. Census Bureau 1). The disparities in the justice system are unimaginable lead to the question on why the US prisons have shown high levels of disparities as far as convictions are concerned.

The paper will propose to understand the disappropriation of the American prisons on racial lines. This will be aided by a discussion of the sociological, political and academic explanations to the question. However, more focus will be shed on the race issue. Though many people are aware of the issue, one would argue that many people still view the issue differently.

Objectives/Intentions of our Research

• To understand why African Americans are experiencing high incarceration rates in the United States.

• To see if there is a correlation in regards to racism with African Americans high incarceration rates.

• To understand which factors contribute to varying rates of incarceration among African Americans populations in the United States and the Whites.

• To increase the awareness of the high incarceration rates among the African Americans.

• To expand research on the incarceration levels on Immigrant African Americans in Tucson.

Review of existing research

Nothing much has been done on the incarceration rates on the African Americans in Tucson. This research will then add to the body of knowledge in a bid to understand the incarceration rates among the African Americans in USA. Many of the studies have pointed out to the United States in general and few states that are seemingly developed and are highly populated.

The racism in the US incarceration can be traced back to the days when Ronald Reagan was the president. In his times, the criminal justice system in the US exploded since a lot of spending was shed on the same. Davis writes that the spending went to an increase of 32% and even the media found an opportunity of over-representing crime that was taking place at the time (13). Worse still, negative connotations were places on the African Americans with allegations placed on them such as drug abuse and dealings. In response stricter laws were made making the offenders face tougher and stricter laws upon conviction. Unfortunately, majority of the offenders happened to be the African Americans. With over 63 billion dollars dedicated to fight crime, the population of the African Americans increased considerably in the US (Teichner 1). It is devastating how the target was not the Whites, but the African Americans of the middle class. On average, one out of four African Americans young adults were sent to prison, jailed or put on probation. It is at this stage that crime was likened to one’s race. However, the same was to be camouflaged with the then president declaring war on drugs campaign so that the entire system would not be seen as racist (Alexander 77-79).

The war on drugs was stereotyped on the African Americans. This war led to many arrests of the Blacks. In the work of Alexander, the US population of the convicts increased from 300,000 to 2 million from the decaled war on drugs (6). Instead of the government coming up with rehabilitative mechanisms, it sought to spend more billions of the war and jailing more officers. One would even question the validity of this approach since the budgetary allocation of the billons on the war on drugs would have been useful if it was directed at rehabilitation.

The same line of thought is shared by Bickel who reports that 37% of the arrested population comprised of Blacks (1). States such as Maryland present a good case study of these findings, as this state was characterized by huge police control and attacks on the African Americans. Worse still, the police were given the powers to have any arrests on any Black person who was suspected on drugs. Many disappeared from their homes due to the flaking approach used by the police to plant drugs on the innocent African Americans (Shan 1). Out of the many states that enforced the drug war, 48 of these states prohibited the inmates from voting, and even after they are released (Alexander 153). This continues the discrimination by race on the criminal justice system. Nellis explains how states in the US have a Black population of more than half in their prisons (1). Among the states include South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia and Mississippi. The worst of the states include Maryland, which has a 72% of African Americans in the prisons (Nellis 1). With these findings, it is possible to make correlations between racial discrimination and the US justice system to the African American communities in Tucson.

Research Methods and Sources

i. Literature search

This study will conduct research through doing a literature search on past information on the topic. Data will found from the US census, the Police and Judicial services. This will help create an analysis of the trends that have been taking place in the US federal systems. It will also help track the changes in the percentages of the African Americans in the prisons over many crimes such as drug and substance abuse. For instance the trends on the highlighted states will be tabulated in a bid to highlight the differences in prevalence in different states. This approach will be helpful in this research as it will give an in-depth analysis of the situation in the United States (Newby 199-212). It will also help in emphasize the intensity of the issue at hand. Through a quick overview of these data, the reader will be well placed to understand the details discussed.

However, this method is disadvantageous since it gives data that may not be validated by the readers (Newby 199). Years later, it is expected that changes having taking place in the US. This may end up terming the results of the finding unsuitable for a current debate but only as a source in helping comparing findings.

ii. Questionnaires

Yet another method that will be applicable in conducting this research is questionnaires. The questionnaires will be designed in a way that they will help assess the perception of the Criminal System in the US by the African Americans in Tucson, Arizona. This method is advantageous as it provides firsthand information on the perceptions on the African Americans on the Criminal Justice system. However, the questionnaires may not provide true information as some of the responds may give complete wrong information on the questions provided (Newby 331-338). Illiteracy also comes into play as some of the respondents may misinterpret the questions on the questionnaire.

iii. Interviews

Interviews will also help in an understanding of the topic. Data will be collected through direct interviews on the residents in Tucson on racism and the justice system. This method gives in-depth information as the interviewer can ask detailed questions on the theme in question. However, the method is extremely tiresome and takes a lot of time to finalize (Newby 339-346).

iv. Direct Observations

Direct observations will also come in handy in this study. The researcher will observe the reaction of the police towards the African Americans vs. the Whites during patrols. This will help get first-hand information on how they treat the two races during their patrols. This method is advantageous since it is accurate and free of bias as the researcher is able to see the actual happenings in the society (Newby 289). However, it may be extremely time consuming as observing the respondents in their natural environment requires a lot of patience so as the researcher can compare the behavioral change over time (Newby 353-87).

Data analysis

Data will be analyzed using content method analysis. This will apply on the data collected from the archives and databases (Newby 481-484). This will help analyze the trends of the jailing of the African Americans. After the analysis, the results will be tabled in such a way that the state with the highest prevalence of African Americans will come first to the least in percentage.

Data will also be analyzed quantitatively from the responses from the questionnaires. Since the questionnaires have been ranked based on the state, age, race and education levels of the participants, it is possible to calculate different perceptions on race and the US criminal system. The same will happen to the interview schedules and the direct observations made on the respondents.

Ethical considerations

In the course of conducting the research, the researcher will at all times adhere to the set ethics and standards of conducting research. For instance, the respondents’ identity will be kept anonymous for the sake of their safety. The process will be voluntary and no responded will be bribed or forced to give relevant information. All research ethics will be observed throughout the process.

Conclusion

After the process of data collection, it is anticipated that the findings will indicate that the process of being jailed in the US is solely reliant on one’s race background. When compared with the imprison rates of the Whites, it is almost expected that the rates of the African Americans are higher. The same is expected in Tucson that is a community inhabited by African Americans. The researcher will also give recommendations on the solution to this problem.

The war on drugs was stereotyped on the African Americans. This war led to many arrests of the Blacks. In the work of Alexander, the US population of the convicts increased from 300,000 to 2 million from the decaled war on drugs (6). Instead of the government coming up with rehabilitative mechanisms, it sought to spend more billions of the war and jailing more officers. One would even question the validity of this approach since the budgetary allocation of the billons on the war on drugs would have been useful if it was directed at rehabilitation.

The same line of thought is shared by Bickel who reports that 37% of the arrested population comprised of Blacks (1). States such as Maryland present a good case study of these findings, as this state was characterized by huge police control and attacks on the African Americans. Worse still, the police were given the powers to have any arrests on any Black person who was suspected on drugs. Many disappeared from their homes due to the flaking approach used by the police to plant drugs on the innocent African Americans (Shan 1). Out of the many states that enforced the drug war, 48 of these states prohibited the inmates from voting, and even after they are released (Alexander 153). This continues the discrimination by race on the criminal justice system. Nellis explains how states in the US have a Black population of more than half in their prisons (1). Among the states include South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia and Mississippi. The worst of the states include Maryland, which has a 72% of African Americans in the prisons (Nellis 1). With these findings, it is possible to make correlations between racial discrimination and the US justice system to the African American communities in Tucson.

Research Methods and Sources

i. Literature search

This study will conduct research through doing a literature search on past information on the topic. Data will found from the US census, the Police and Judicial services. This will help create an analysis of the trends that have been taking place in the US federal systems. It will also help track the changes in the percentages of the African Americans in the prisons over many crimes such as drug and substance abuse. For instance the trends on the highlighted states will be tabulated in a bid to highlight the differences in prevalence in different states. This approach will be helpful in this research as it will give an in-depth analysis of the situation in the United States (Newby 199-212). It will also help in emphasize the intensity of the issue at hand. Through a quick overview of these data, the reader will be well placed to understand the details discussed.

However, this method is disadvantageous since it gives data that may not be validated by the readers (Newby 199). Years later, it is expected that changes having taking place in the US. This may end up terming the results of the finding unsuitable for a current debate but only as a source in helping comparing findings.

ii. Questionnaires

Yet another method that will be applicable in conducting this research is questionnaires. The questionnaires will be designed in a way that they will help assess the perception of the Criminal System in the US by the African Americans in Tucson, Arizona. This method is advantageous as it provides firsthand information on the perceptions on the African Americans on the Criminal Justice system. However, the questionnaires may not provide true information as some of the responds may give complete wrong information on the questions provided (Newby 331-338). Illiteracy also comes into play as some of the respondents may misinterpret the questions on the questionnaire. Read More