Race and Crime Essay

atomic number 18 minorities continually existence unfairly beated, tried and punished as a result of racial secernment or do minorities just induct much offenses? In order to de terminal figureine if disparity or unlikeness is the cause of flow over representation of minorities in the malefactor evaluator transcription we have to study quicken, ethnicity and past discriminatory judicial practices. are the historical discriminatory practices and past laws the cause of the imperious imbalance of part in relation to pelt along, class and discrimination within our society that leads to more than crime among minorities today?There are m some(prenominal) theories on why, how and eve if prevail discrimination plays a significant role in explaining the current arrest and immurement rates of minorities in the united States. Social agate line theory, because it also involves the some restriction to important tender aspects of society is the atomic number 53 I most agr ee with. In my experience restricted bother to cordial and cultural capital is the cause for higher than expected crime rates among our citizens who lack these two important aspects of crime control.The inability to strive triumph based on societies definition causes stain and alternative directions of thinking to achieve that level of success, which is sometimes outside the confines of the law. The term race has traditionally referred to the biological differences of mankind. The differences that distinguish us by the food coloring of our skin, hair texture and certain physical features determine what race we are. well-nigh experts contend that race is just a social construct and spate are classified and labeled by the culturally dominant radical in that society.This type of classification system tends to imply that one race is inferior to another (Walker et al pg 6). The term minority is used for any race that is less in numbers than the race in power. before long in the United States the studyity is considered to be Caucasian and the minorities are African Americans, Hispanics, Arab Americans, etc. There have been many historical examples of minorities being unfairly treated within the confines of our judicial system. Race discrimination and social and economical variety have a direct impact on crime and abominable justice (Walker et al, pg 78).In the southern states during the 1800s barriers were created in the laws to separate nonwhite persons from the majority, white persons called the Black Codes. These codes created a legal line of breakup stating where blacks could and could not go in public, what land they could own and how they could earn a financial backing. The term, cloak Line encompassed everything involving what water fountains and bathrooms coloreds could use and where they could stand or razz in public spaces.The Jim shoot a line laws of the 1900 were also racist laws and actions that deprived African Americans civil rights, claiming blacks were inferior to the whites and were lower class people. The colored sign was the most visible mark of inferiority imposed upon African Americans by the Jim Crow laws (Davis PhD). The punishment for breaking these laws and codes were mob lynching, serving prison time on chain gangs and debilitating debt imposed by sharecropping attempts to make a living (Davis PhD). Previous laws and codes set the stage for economic inequality of minorities in the United States.Income, wealth, unemployment are the standard measure of economic inequality. All of these measures indicate ample and persistent inequality in society generally and with respect to race and ethnicity (Walker et al pg, 79). In order to determine if race discrimination has the major contributor to minority over representation in the criminal justice system we must rule out the idea of disparity being the cause of overrepresentation. The concept of disparity in the criminal justice system refers to differences in say incarceration rates of a certain race but not because of systematic race discrimination.Disparity is a way to explain the high numbers of minorities as criminal perpetrators with legitimate factors. These factors could ac hit the hayledge, minorities agitate more crimes, not because police officers, judges and juries are racists. Crime arrest and convictions could be all based on legal factors. These legal factors allow in the seriousness of offense, mitigating circumstances and previous criminal records. These factors opposed to extralegal factors that include race, class, gender and lifestyle (Walker et al, pg 18).If arrest and conviction rates were based solely on legal factors with no weight given to extralegal factors, a high minority count would be considered disparity not systematic discrimination on part of the criminal justice system. To determine if nevertheless legal factors and not extralegal factors are the cause of an overrepresentation of minorities in th e criminal justice system much more research needs to be conducted. If the cause of high incarceration rates is because of disparity instead of discrimination there is one theory I feel explains why there is disparity.The Social Strain Theory explains the causes of disparity among minorities that leads to higher rates of arrests and incarceration rates. Robert Mertons social stain theory holds that each society has a dominant set of values and goals along with acceptable room of achieving them (Walker et al, pg 92). If success in life is measured by your social status, involving what you own, where you live and who you know then that is your personal goals for success. The ways to achieve this success are seen as hard work, education, self-control and as individual achievements (Walker et al, pg 92).If the American dream is not realized by a group of people because of societies inability to turn in equal levels of educational and work opportunities to achieve success it results i n what Mertons calls social strain. Mertons theory of social strain call ines the gap betwixt what society views as success and a persons circumstances are for nerve-wracking to achieve that success. (Walker et al, pg 92). Social strain helps to explain high rates of criminal activity among minorities because minorities are more likely to be denied legal opportunities to father the American dream by legal means.The high levels of economic inequality experienced by minorities, together with continuing discrimination based on race and ethnicity, mean that minorities are far less likely to be able to achieve approved social goals through conventional means (Walker et al, pg 93). In conclusion I believe minorities do commit more crimes today, but that is because of a account statement of discrimination and blocked opportunities to achieve social and cultural capital. The ruling class, the majority, because of past-institutionalized and systematic discrimination has created what we have today, a disparity among minorities involved in our criminal justice system.Therefore even though we have curbed contextual and individual acts of discrimination we have yet to address past discrimination in a meaningful way speckle still upholding the law. Bibliography Davis, Ronald L. F. Ph. D. California State University, Northridge. Creating Jim Crow. History of Jim Crow retrieved on June 2, 2011 from http//jimcrowhistory. org/history/creating. htm Lafree, G. & Russell, K. K. (1993). The argument for studying race and crime. Journal of Criminal Justice Education. 4, 273-289. Walker, S, Spohn, C, & DeLone, M. (2007). The Color of Justice Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Wadsworth Publishing Co.