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dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/04/none-dare-call-it-justice-eighteen-examples-of-racism-in-criminal-legal-system/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/04/none-dare-call-it-justice-eighteen-examples-of-racism-in-criminal-legal-system/</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">None Dare Call It Justice: Eighteen
Examples of Racism in Criminal Legal System</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">by <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/author/bill-quigley/"
rel="nofollow">Bill Quigley</a> - October 4, 2016<br>
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<p>Racism may well be the biggest crime in the criminal
legal system. If present trends continue, <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/06/16/the-stale-statistic-that-one-in-three-black-males-has-a-chance-of-ending-up-in-jail/">1
of every 4 African American males</a> born this decade
can expect to go to prison in his lifetime despite the
fact that the <a
href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/00">Census
Bureau</a> reports that the US is 13 percent Black, 61
percent white and 17 percent Latino.</p>
<p>When <em>Brown v Board of Education</em> was decided
in 1954 about <a
href="http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Addressing-Racial-Disparities-in-Incarceration.pdf">100,000
African Americans</a> were in prison. Now there are
about 800,000 African Americans in jails and prisons:
538,000 in <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf">prisons</a>
and over 263,000 in local <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/jim14.pdf">jails</a>.
Black men are nearly six times as likely to be
incarcerated as white men and Hispanic men are 2.3 times
as likely, according to the <a
href="http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Trends-in-US-Corrections.pdf">Sentencing
Project</a>.</p>
<p>Why? Because our country has dramatically expanded our
jails and prisons and there is deep racism built into
every step of the criminal legal system. Some think the
criminal legal system has <a
href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/426017/americas-broken-criminal-justice-system-desperate-need-reform-george-will">big
problems that need to be reformed</a>. Others think
the racism in the criminal legal system is helping it
operate <a
href="http://harvardkennedyschoolreview.com/the-criminal-justice-system-is-not-broken-its-doing-exactly-what-its-meant-to-do/">exactly
as it has been designed</a> to incarcerate as many
black and brown people as possible.</p>
<p>Here are 18 examples of racism in parts of different
stages of the system. Taken together, the racism in
each of these steps accelerates the process of
incarceration of African American and Latino males.
Together, they demonstrate that racism may well be the
biggest crime in the criminal legal system.</p>
<p><em>One. Racism in Police Stops</em></p>
<p>Who is stopped by the police, either in cars or on
foot, continues to be highly racialized as proof of
racial profiling continues to accumulate. University of
Kansas professors found the <a
href="http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/janfeb-2014/driving-while-black/">police
conducted investigatory stops of African American
males</a> at twice the rate of whites. A black man in
Kansas City 25 or younger has a 28 percent chance of
being stopped, while a similar white male has only a 12
percent chance. In <a
href="http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/nypd-stop-and-frisk-encounters-down-50-but-minorities-still-stopped-more-stats-show-1.10685785">New
York City</a>, police continue to stop Black and
Hispanics at rates far higher than whites even though
they are stopping many less people due to a successful
civil rights federal court challenge by the <a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/stop-and-frisk-human-impact">Center
for Constitutional Rights</a>. One of the most
illuminating studies is in <a
href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/minority_drivers_less_likely_to_be_pulled_over_after_dark/">Connecticut</a>
which showed racial disparities in traffic stops during
the daytime, when the race of the driver can be seen,
but not at night.</p>
<p><em>Two. Racism in Police Searches</em></p>
<p>Once stopped, during traffic stops, three times as many
Black and Hispanic drivers were searched as white
drivers, according to the <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pbtss11.pdf">US
Bureau of Justice Statistics</a>. According to the
same <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pbtss11.pdf">US
Bureau of Justice Statistics</a>, white drivers were
also given tickets at a slightly lower rate than Black
and Hispanic drivers.</p>
<p><em>Three. Racism in Police Use of Force during Arrest</em></p>
<p>A recent report by <a
href="http://policingequity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/CPE_SoJ_Race-Arrests-UoF_2016-07-08-1130.pdf">Center
for Policing Equity</a> found that police are more
likely to use force like Tasers, dogs, pepper spray and
physical force against Black people than White people in
making arrests.</p>
<p><em>Four. Racism in Juvenile Arrests</em></p>
<p>Black youth are twice as likely to be arrested for
crimes in school as white kids, over 2.5 times as likely
to be arrested for curfew violations as white kids,
twice as likely as white kids to be arrested for all
crimes, and much more likely to be held in detention
than white kids, according to the <a
href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Disproportionate-Minority-Contact-in-the-Juvenile-Justice-System.pdf">Sentencing
Project</a>.</p>
<p><em>Five. Racism in Transgender Arrests</em></p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of gay and transgender youth are
arrested or detained every year and more than 60 percent
are Black or Latino according to the <a
href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/report/2012/06/29/11730/the-unfair-criminalization-of-gay-and-transgender-youth/">Center
for American Progress</a>.</p>
<p><em>Six. Racism in Arrests for Drugs </em></p>
<p>Start with the fact that whites and blacks use and
abuse drugs at about the same rates. This is proven by
the <a
href="http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUHresultsPDFWHTML2013/Web/NSDUHresults2013.pdf">2013
National Survey on Drug Use and Health</a> of the US
Department of Health and Human Services. This study
found drug and alcohol abuse among whites and blacks
nearly the same with blacks reporting one percent higher
on drug use than whites while whites have three percent
higher rates of binge alcohol and one percent higher
rates of substance abuse or dependence.</p>
<p>But when it comes to drug arrests, Blacks are arrested
at a rate more than twice their percentage in the
population. Twenty nine percent of drug arrests,
according to <a
href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-43">FBI
statistics</a>, are of African American people.</p>
<p><em>Seven. Racism in Police Arrests for Marijuana</em></p>
<p>While marijuana use is similar in black and white
communities, <a
href="https://www.aclu.org/report/report-war-marijuana-black-and-white?redirect=report/war-marijuana-black-and-white">blacks
are 3.73 times as likely</a> to be arrested for
possession of marijuana as whites.</p>
<p><em>Eight. Racism in Pre-trial Release</em></p>
<p>The <a
href="http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/nrc/NAS_report_on_incarceration.pdf">National
Academy of Sciences</a> found that blacks are more
likely than whites to be incarcerated while awaiting
trial.</p>
<p><em>Nine. Racism in Prosecution Charges</em></p>
<p>Federal prosecutors are almost twice as likely to file
charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences for African
Americans than whites accused of the same crimes
according to a study published by the <a
href="http://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=163082093087069064070107115007082113125002071065025035011068112075029114002013103074036063099027006049113027119003101068127102126001025021028016001024122030064023035036063003117026030073095122104120068027073113115111103124030077091101112095089001068&EXT=pdf">University
of Michigan Law School</a>.</p>
<p><em>Ten. Racism in Prison versus Community Service</em></p>
<p>The <a
href="http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/nrc/NAS_report_on_incarceration.pdf">National
Academy of Sciences</a> stated that blacks are more
likely than whites to received prison terms rather than
community service. Black people are imprisoned at twice
the rate of white people in the US according to the <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf">US
Department of Justice</a>.</p>
<p><em>Eleven. Racism in Length of Incarceration</em></p>
<p>The <a
href="http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/nrc/NAS_report_on_incarceration.pdf">National
Academy of Sciences</a> stated that, after conviction,
blacks are more likely than whites to receive longer
sentences.</p>
<p><em>Twelve. Racism in State Drug Incarceration</em></p>
<p>The <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf">Bureau
of Justice Statistics</a> reports 208,000 people are
in <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf">state
prisons</a> for drug offenses. Of this number 32
percent are white and 68 percent are African American or
Hispanic.</p>
<p><em>Thirteen. Racism in Federal Drug Convictions</em></p>
<p>More than half of all federal prisoners are there for <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf">drug
offenses</a>. The <a
href="http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2014/Table34.pdf">US
Sentencing Commission</a> reported 25 percent of all
federal drug convictions in 2014 were of African
Americans and 47 percent were Hispanics versus 24
percent of whites. In <a
href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf">federal
prisons</a>, 22 percent are white and 76 percent are
African American or Hispanic.</p>
<p><em>Fourteen. Racism in Federal Court Sentencing</em></p>
<p>African American men were sentenced to 19 percent
longer time periods in federal courts across the US than
white men convicted of similar crimes in a 4 year study
conducted by the <a
href="http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/news/congressional-testimony-and-reports/booker-reports/2012-booker/Part_E.pdf#page=1">US
Sentencing Commission</a>.</p>
<p><em>Fifteen. Racism in Incarceration of Women</em></p>
<p>Black women are incarcerated at a rate nearly <a
href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/the-changing-racial-dynamics-of-womens-incarceration/">three
times higher than white women</a>.</p>
<p><em>Sixteen. Racism in Sentencing to Life Without
Parole</em></p>
<p>Over sixty five percent of prisoners serving <a
href="https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/111813-lwop-complete-report.pdf">life
without parole for nonviolent offenses</a> are black.</p>
<p><em>Seventeen. Racism in Hiring People with Criminal
Record</em></p>
<p>Having a criminal record hurts a person’s ability to
get a job. But it hurts Black men worse. In fact,
white men with a criminal record have a better chance of
getting a positive response in a job search than black
men without a criminal record. This has been confirmed
by a study of 6000 applications in <a
href="https://csgjusticecenter.org/reentry/posts/researchers-examine-effects-of-a-criminal-record-on-prospects-for-employment/">Arizona</a>
and an <a
href="http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/study-black-man-and-white-felon-same-chances-for-hire/">earlier
study</a> in Milwaukee and New York City.</p>
<p><em>Eighteen. Racism in Eliminating the Right to Vote</em></p>
<p>The impact of this is devastating. For example, one of
every 13 African Americans has lost their right to vote
due to <a
href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/felony-disenfranchisement-laws-in-the-united-states/">felony
disenfranchisement</a> versus one in every 56
non-black voters.</p>
<p>Taken together, these facts demonstrate the deep racism
embedded in the criminal legal system. None dare call
this justice.</p>
</div>
<p class="author_description"> <em><strong>Bill Quigley</strong>
teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and can be
reached at <a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a>.</em>
</p>
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