One may think quite logically that the harshness of
penalties given to criminals would be proportionate with the crime rate in that
state. According to research done by Rice University, if you believed this, you
would be wrong. Surprisingly, the crime rate in a state is not the main
determinant of whether that state would impose harsher penalties on
crimes–instead, there is a more troubling variable to account for–the
percentage of blacks residing in the state. I found this deeply unsettling; the
fact that crime rate is superseded by the percentage of blacks for the most
important determinant of the penalty given means that something more is
happening behind the scenes when law enforcement decides to incriminate an
individual. What exactly is the motivation for making one state have harsher
penalties than another just because of race? The obvious answer to this
question is racism: essentially, the whole legal process is prejudiced against
African Americans. This is not just a question of why many more blacks are
incriminated than whites or other ethnicities– this is a question of why the
structure of the system purposefully imposes harsher penalties on states with
larger black populations.
It seems that the current policy in place is due to the
culture that has been prevalent in our society for an incredibly long time.
Many posit that the belief of young black men being threatening to a population
is the reason for the judicial system being biased in such a way. I have to
agree– even though we have made long strides in combating racism, the deeper,
subtler ways that racism permeates society are still there. The structure of
the system is flawed in such a way to harshly penalize blacks for no net gain
of any sort. Further imprisonment is costly both economically and socially, and
it only makes sense to adjust the system to combat this. In terms of efficiency
and equity, this policy decision is a no-brainer, but the question remains: how
exactly do you address something that is so deeply ingrained? While I believe
the cultural element of this can only change with time, the structure of the
current systems in place can and should be changed. Penalties should be
adjusted to either be harsher in other states with lesser black populations or
less harsh in the states with the largest black populations. Further, more research
should be done in order to discover more judicial systems in place that are
either directly or indirectly discriminate against certain ethnicities.
– Ali Haq
Sources:
https://www.vocativ.com/usa/justice-usa/prison-statistics-race/
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
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