Sarah Choudhry

SOC 001 Sec 008

April 13th 2017

African Americans in the Criminal Justice System

It is no secret that the criminal justice system in the United States has many holes and

needs reform. In the United States the criminal justice system is severely lacking in equal justice

for thousands of people. African Americans have become the victims of an unfair system for

which they have been treated unfairly and have been abused by a biased system. The criminal

justice system is inherently biased toward African Americans through the use of mandatory

minimums, excessive bail, and a large percentage of black people being subjected to capital

punishment.

Mandatory Minimums affect people of color more than white people at an overwhelming

rate. In fact, a study showed that 54% of white defendants were sentenced to the mandatory

minimum compared to 67% of black defendants and 57% of Hispanic defendants. This is due to

the fact that mandatory minimums within the federal system has been tied to the War on Drugs

in dealing with the prosecution of drug users (Fischman and Schanzenbach 2012). As countless

data shows, the War on Drugs has had an extremely disproportionate effect on the

African-American communities. As Mauer states This is not initially a function of sentencing

policy, but rather law enforcement priorities; ultimately, this results in the application of harsh

penalties to a population that is not necessarily representative of all persons who have violated

the applicable laws. This means that law enforcement have been focusing on arresting people

for drug use in African-American communities and the War on Drugs is only affecting African
Americans because they are the only ones being arrested for the crime.. This sentencing policy

is most prominent in the mandatory minimums for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Prior to

the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 it took 100 times as much powder cocaine as crack cocaine in

order to receive the same mandatory minimum prison term. This was important because of the

disproportionate use of these drugs. Crack cocaine was used predominantly in black

communities, because crack cocaine is cheaper, while powder cocaine was used in wealthier

white communities. Even though it is chemically the same drug crack cocaine was given a

harsher sentencing putting more black people in prison for a longer period of time (Mauer 2010).

If mandatory minimums for drug use were looked at equally and law enforcement was tougher

on crime in both white and minority neighborhoods mandatory minimums would not put black

people at such a disadvantage.

In the criminal justice system African Americans are less likely than white people to be

able to let themselves out on bail. Bail is the amount of money someone can pay in order to be

released from police custody with the promise of attending all court proceeding in order for the

amount to be returned to the accused. It is an integral part of the criminal court system in the

USA, so much so that part of the 8th Amendment in the Constitution clearly states the right to

reasonable bail. Those who cannot make bail are forced to stay in a detention facility until trial.

Having the inability to post bail can lead to many negative consequences. It hinders their ability

to assist in their own defense by limiting their access to their counsel and prevents them from

locating evidence and witnesses for trial. Those who are placed in detention centers often appear

in court wearing a prisoners uniform and make have handcuffs on. This stereotypical prisoner

looks makes them appear guiltier and more dangerous to a jury. Research has shown that
defendants who are detained prior to trial are more likely to be convicted than defendants who

are not detained. Also, it has been shown that defendants who were unable to make bail tend to

receive longer sentences. Data from Connecticut concluded that courts systematically set bail for

African American defendants at unjustifiably high levels. They further observed that, after

controlling for the severity of the alleged offense, bail amounts set for African American males

35% higher than those set for their White male counterparts. Black defendants are more likely to

live a lower income lifestyle than white defendants, so when a judge gives a black defendant a

higher bail that they are most likely unable to pay it lowers their chance of being found not guilty

or receiving a small sentence. Since black people are accused of a crime at a disproportional rate

it is more likely for a judge to come across more black people in their courtroom than white

people. This leads a judge to develop a stereotype against black people seeing them as more

dangerous, threatening, and more likely to flee and skip their court date making them more

inclined to set a harsher bail. When biases against African Americans develop and lead to higher

bail rates it only hinders the criminal justice system and makes it harder for black people to get a

fair trial (Radelet and Vandiver 1986).

The inherent racism within the use of capital punishment is prominent both with if the

accused is black or white and if the victim is black or white. As stated earlier black people make

up about 13% of the US population, however they account for 42% of inmates placed on death

row. While there is an approximately even percent of black victims to percent of white victims

roughly 77% of capital cases involve a white victim. Racism still influences the treatment

received by the accused of capital crime. There is a systematic bias in the criminal justice system

that affects the disportionate amount of blacks sentenced to death row. This bias dates all the
way back to the 1800s where African Americans were used as scapegoats to crimes committed

by whites and were likely to be accused as guilty and put to death without ever getting a fair trial

because of the color of their skin. These acts happened the most in historically confederate state,

the same states the today have placed the highest amount of prisoners on death row with a

disportionate number of them being of black. Research also shows the significance of the color

of the victim's skin in relation to if the accused with be placed on death row. A report by the

University of South Carolina states that if a victim is white in a homicide case with the accused

being black the prosecutor is 3.5 times more likely to push for capital punishment. This again

goes back to a bias that was created back when white people saw black people as property and

there was no punishment for if a white people harmed a slave because they were considered their

property. However, if a black person, enslaved or not, was accused of harming a white people

many would have been sentenced to death almost immediately. In order to stop the disportant

killing of black prisoners compared to white prisoners the whole system must be reformed first.

The reason why more blacks are put on death row is not due to the conscience decision of

multiple individual, but rather the problem is due to the bias within the whole criminal justice

system that puts black people at a disadvantage (Turner and Johnson 2005).

Through the use of mandatory minimums, excessive bail, and the large numbers in which

black people are put on death row the criminal justice system shows an inherent biased toward

African Americans. Mandatory minimums have longer sentencing to drugs more heavily used in

African Americans communities. Judges force excessive bail due to the stereotypes, which black

defendants cannot post making them appear guiltier to a jury. Also, capital punishment is served

at an overwhelming rate to black prisoners and of crime with a white victim showing how the
system is still racists so many years later. Many have said that race relations are much better in

this country and racism is almost nonexistent. While it is true that black people are no longer

enslaved and can vote the idea that US no longer discriminates against black people is far from

true and that is ever present in our criminal justice system.

 Work Cited

Fischman, J. B. and Schanzenbach, M. M. (2012), Racial Disparities Under the Federal

Sentencing Guidelines: The Role of Judicial Discretion and Mandatory Minimums.

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 9: 729764. Doi:10.1111/j.1740-1461.2012.0126 6.x

Mauer, M. (2010). The Impact of Mandatory Minimum Penalties in Federal Sentencing.

Judicature 94(1), 6-9

Radelet, M., & Vandiver, M. (1986). Race and capital punishment. Crime and Social Justice,

0(26), 94. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.

proquest.com /docview/131 1907385?accountid=13158

Turner, K.B. & Johnson, J.B. Am J Crim Just (2005) 30: 35. doi:10.1007/BF02885880