The criminal justice refers to a system of practices and government institutions which mitigate and deter crime, sanctioning with criminal penalties those that violate the law, rehabilitation efforts and upholding social control. The five pillars of the criminal justice system are the courts, correction, the community, the prosecution and the law enforcement
Implementation of legislation appears to differ according to race, minority, and economic resources. In the criminal justice system, racial disproportionality is a fact. Racial profiling results from institutionalized biases, individual officer stereotyping or racism and from the organizational culture of agencies that enforce laws (Crutchfield, 2005, p. 23). For total adult felony Countrywide, the most overrepresented groups are African American males and females, followed by Native Americans men and women and Hispanic males. Life and death sentences rate higher for African Americans than those for any other groups. Many minorities, lawyers, and judges hold perceptions similarly of the treatment of minority litigants. Minorities do not trust the court system to administer justice evenhandedly or resolve their disputes, which bias pervades the whole legal system.
Minorities receive harsher sentences and disparate treatment in criminal proceedings despite the guidelines set out. Also, law enforcement officials tend to engage in offensive behavior toward minority persons and treat them with disrespect. Court analysis records indicate that defender, case, and county characteristics significantly influence fees, fines and restitution orders assessed by judges at the time of criminal conviction. Convictions involving Hispanics defendants associate with significantly higher fines and fees. Finally, cases that involve male defendants assess higher penalties and fines than the women counterparts (Crutchfield, 2005, p. 38).
In response to the countrywide attention to the issue, some law enforcement agencies reexamined their policies and present new ways of prosecutorial misconduct, deter the racial bias and create similar outcomes (Whisner, 2015).
References
Crutchfield, R. D. (2005). Racial Disparity in the Washington State Criminal Justice System(2nd ed.). Washington DC, WA.
Whisner, M. (2015, April 30). Race in the Criminal Justice System — Gallagher Law Library. Retrieved from https://lib.law.washington.edu/content/guides/racecrim
