The Ethnic Minority Population research

prisons. The Hispanics are overrepresented in both prison and police statistics and in victimization. Although the African American population constitutes only 12. 3% of the total United States population, it makes up about 45% of the population of prisons (Walker, Spohn & DeLone, 2012). Various levels of the criminal justice system also reveal data showing the overrepresentation of ethnic minorities. The Hispanics will comprise of about one quarter of the U. S. population. With the increasingly diversified U. S. 9% of rapes, 53. 3% of robberies, and 47. 2% of murders (Walker, Spohn & DeLone, 2012). As shown by Walker, Spohn and DeLone (2012), the African Americans represent about 45 percent of the incarcerated population in the federal and state prisons. Also, the American Indians constitute only about 1% of the United States population despite representing 16 percent of all violent offenders in federal prisons and 2.

a. Targeted Policing According to Rocque (2011), ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the incarceration facilities, not because of being higher offenders, but because they are over-targeted by the policing system. As Chaney and Robertson (2013) state, crime rates do not determine the incarceration rates. Rather, the targeted police system predicts crime to happen in certain places, and concentrate police resources towards arresting criminals in those places. For instance, Chaney and Robertson (2013) demonstrate that targeted drug policing results in increasingly disproportionate policing of the over-policed populations. Most police departments in the country do not have minorities representation that match the local demographic. b. Bail In the justice system, every suspect has a right to bail, and the Eighth Amendment prohibits against excessive bail or excessive fines.

However, judges and prosecutors hold significant discretion over whether a defendant should be released on bail or not. In making this decision, a judge may consider factors such as the possibility of flight or dangerousness to the community. Before an accused individual is tried in court, they may be released on bail until their trial date or they may be held in custody until their trial. Although the considerations of bail are supposed to be applied equally across all suspects, statistics show that suspects from minority ethnic groups have a high likelihood of being remanded in custody, while those from majority ethnic groups are less likely to be remanded. In addition, studies also indicate the existence of significant differences in the length of sentencing between ethnic minorities and majorities (Abrams, Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2012).

For instance, in 2016, the length of sentencing imposed on different ethnic groups significantly varied. While the white offenders received an average sentence length of 18 months, the Asian and black offenders received average sentences of 25 and 24 months respectively. The ethnic minorities are overrepresented in both the police and prison systems and in victimization. This calls for an urgent response to solve the problem. This course’s lectures and readings by Mio et al. (2016) and Jones et al. (2013) where instrumental for this paper in giving insightful information about the background and significance of ethnic diversity in the United States. As such, the unfair treatment of members of the ethnic minority population within the criminal justice system negatively impacts on the United States’ society and economy.

For this reason, there is an urgent need to implement strategies that aim at eliminating the discrimination against ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system. One major constructive response to the problem is changing political and social policies to allow for a more inclusive society with a proportionate representation from all ethnic groups in the country. Further, there should be efforts to address socio-economic problems such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, and illiteracy. Addressing these issues would minimize crime levels in the country, and lower the cases of discrimination against members of the ethnic minority population within the criminal justice system. economy. Constructive responses to this problem include creating ethnic awareness training for all criminal justice officials, calling for a major recruitment drive, and addressing socio-economic problems such as poverty and unemployment.