11 Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Due Date: Racial discrimination Abstract When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in the community. Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always been difficult. Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Introduction When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The criminal justice community is when people are not discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual, it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However, when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019), there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as black people are discriminated against by police officers based on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared to white people when they violate similar laws. There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system discriminates against people based on their race. For example, police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which white people are left to walk freely even after making similar mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin. Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the citizens. Literature Review and Definitions included in the research According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is mu ...

1. 11
Criminal Justice: Racial discrimination
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Instructor’s Name:
Course Code:
Due Date:
Racial discrimination
Abstract
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied
with the way legal actions are carried out in the community.
Unfortunately, there are several instances of racial
discrimination in the United States. Most of the racial
discrimination in the United States ate directed towards black
people. Although everyone is required to have equal treatment
in the United States, achieving zero discrimination has always
been difficult.
Understanding racial discrimination in the USA is vital as it
makes it easy for one to identify ways to eliminate the criminal
injustices resulting from racial discrimination. This will be
essential since it will help to eliminate racial discrimination in
the criminal justice system.
Introduction
When there is justice in society, every person feels satisfied

2. with the way legal actions are carried out in society. The
criminal justice community is when people are not
discriminated against based on their skin color. Laws applicable
are carried out uniformly such that every person is treated
equally. When the laws are applied equally to every individual,
it increases the trust in the criminal justice system. However,
when there are biases in applying the laws, the criminal justice
system becomes compromised. According to Kovera (2019),
there are many disparities in the criminal justice system as
black people are discriminated against by police officers based
on their race. As a result, black people suffer more as compared
to white people when they violate similar laws.
There is a lot of disparity in the criminal justice system of the
United States. Many people suffer as a result of racial
discrimination in the United States. People are discriminated
against a lot in the administration of the policies. According to
Donnel (2017), there is racial inequality in how criminal justice
is carried out in policymaking. The criminal justice system
discriminates against people based on their race. For example,
police officers harass black people for minor mistakes which
white people are left to walk freely even after making similar
mistakes. Black people suffer because of the color of their skin.
Hypothesis/Problem Statement/Purpose Statement
Racial discrimination affects the outcomes of the criminal
justice system adversely. How does racial discrimination affect
the judicial criminal justice system? The study aims to identify
ways in which criminal justice racial discrimination is practiced
in the United States. It will also provide insights on the racial
discrimination cases, which are helpful in the development of
policies that can be helpful in the elimination of racial
discrimination in society hence promoting equality among the
citizens.
Literature Review and Definitions included in the research
According to Hinton, Henderson, and Reed (2018), there is
much institutional racism against black people. Black people
bear an unjust burden because of the racial discrimination in the

3. criminal justice system. The criminal justice system treats black
people discriminatively, which makes them sentenced for
criminal activities that they have not committed more often.
Racist judges are usually asked to be in charge of the black
people cases. Due to their racism, they end up acting unjustly in
their ruling to deny black people justice. They suffer just as a
result of their skin colour. Unfair court rulings against the black
people in court because of racist judges indicate racial
discrimination against the black people in the criminal justice
system.
According to Mears, Cochran, and Lindsey (2016), there is
significant racial discrimination directed towards minority
groups in the USA. The blacks who are a minority in the United
States are subjected to racial discrimination. There are many
disparities in the treatment of the people, which results in
discrimination of minority groups. There is little knowledge
about the disparities in the sanctioning and processing of
minorities. The minorities are treated poorly in some places,
which extends to law enforcement and lawmaking processes.
This is shown by a higher number of black people arrests than
white people in the United States. Black people suffer more as
compared to white people when they violate similar laws.
According to Taylor et al. (2018), African males are most
likely to be discriminated against based on race. African
American males are subject to racial discrimination daily.
African Americans are treated wrongfully by law enforcement
officers. They are mistreated in the process of enforcing the
laws. The criminal justice system discriminates the black
Africans as they are mistreated in the criminal justice process.
Most of the people who suffer during the criminal justice
system are mainly males. The discrimination of males is
normally categorized into three; males who have been arrested
before but never incarcerated, those who have never been
arrested, and those arrested with some form of incarceration.
According to Hatey and Eberhardt (2018), racial discrimination
results to fear. The criminal activities are related mostly to

4. African American people, which leads to disparities in the
criminal justice system. Hatey and Eberhardt focused on the US
criminal justice process, particularly incarceration and policing.
They argued that racial disparities could prompt fear and
stereotypic associations linking African American origin to
crime. Further, they suggest that instead of reexamining the
criminal justice system, the statistics regarding disparities may
instead offer the opportunity for justification and rationalization
of the criminal justice system disparities. Hatey and Eberhardt
propose three possible strategies through which data regarding
racial disparities can be presented more effectively. First, they
propose that future research test whether presenting data on
disparities and describing how those disparities arose may be a
more effective way of framing inequality. Second, they suggest
that exposure to data regarding racial inequalities in the
criminal justice process may reinforce implicit relations
associating African Americans with violence, crime, aggression,
and threat. Finally, they suggest that instead of prioritizing
institutions, we should prioritize individuals as this perpetuates
inequality.
Research methods/design
A qualitative research design was implemented during the
study. Therefore, the data collected mainly involves identifying
the effects of racial discrimination on criminal justice.
Questionnaires were issued out during the study to help collect
relevant information, which was subjected to analysis and
conclusion.

5. References
Kovera, M. B. (2019). Racial disparities in the criminal justice
system: Prevalence, causes, and a search for solutions. Journal
of Social Issues, 75(4), 1139-1164.
Donnelly, E. A. (2017). The politics of racial disparity reform:
Racial inequality and criminal justice policymaking in the
states. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 42(1), 1-27.
Hinton, E., Henderson, L., & Reed, C. (2018). An unjust
burden: The disparate treatment of Black Americans in the
criminal justice system. Vera Institute of Justice.
Hetey, R. C., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2018). The numbers don’t
speak for themselves: Racial disparities and the persistence of
inequality in the criminal justice system. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 27(3), 183-187.
Taylor, R. J., Miller, R., Mouzon, D., Keith, V. M., & Chatters,
L. M. (2018). Everyday discrimination among African American
men: The impact of criminal justice contact. Race and
justice, 8(2), 154-177.
Mears, D. P., Cochran, J. C., & Lindsey, A. M. (2016).
Offending and racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice:
A conceptual framework for guiding theory and research and
informing policy. Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice, 32(1), 78-103.
Appendices
Questionnaire
What is your name
……………………………………………………….
Please indicate your
gender………………………………………………
Age………………………………………….

6. Have you ever been racially abused?
...............................................................................................
.....................................
Have you ever witnessed racial discrimination
cases?.............................................
Do you think racial discrimination
good?................................................................
What do you think can be done to eliminate racial
discrimination?
...............................................................................................
.................................
How does racial discrimination affect the judicial criminal
justice system?
…………………………………………………………………………
……….
Annotated Bibliography
Mears, D. P., Cochran, J. C., & Lindsey, A. M. (2016).
Offending and racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice:
A conceptual framework for guiding theory and research and
informing policy. Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice, 32(1), 78-103.
The authors of this article evaluate the history of poor race
relations in America and their contribution to the unfair
treatment of minority groups. The authors argue that there is
limited knowledge regarding disparities in the sanctioning and
processing of minorities. Remarkably, there is a lack of
systematic and comprehensive empirical research on the
prevalence of disproportionalities, minority differences, and
disparities in criminal justice. Consequently, this limited
knowledge has resulted in a nation living in darkness with little
light in some parts. This means that there is only a little
knowledge regarding the poor treatment of minority groups in
some places, while in other parts, there is no knowledge at all.
These concerns have extended to law enforcement and
lawmaking. For example, national statistics have indicated that

7. the arrest rate amongst African Americans is 2.3 times higher
than that of whites. The authors conclude by suggesting the
need for the country's criminal justice to pursue fairness.
Taylor, R. J., Miller, R., Mouzon, D., Keith, V. M., & Chatters,
L. M. (2018). Everyday discrimination among African American
men: The impact of criminal justice contact. Race and
justice, 8(2), 154-177.
The researchers evaluated everyday discrimination by criminal
justice on a national sample of African American males.
Previous research has shown these males are likely to be
mistreated in the criminal justice process. There have been few
studies that assess everyday discrimination amongst African
American males. The authors used data from the National
Survey of American Life to assess the various kinds of everyday
discrimination experienced by African American
males in three categories. These categories include African
American males who have been arrested before but never
incarcerated, those who have never been arrested, and those
arrested with some form of incarceration. The study revealed
high levels of reported everyday discrimination.
Hetey, R. C., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2018). The numbers don’t
speak for themselves: Racial disparities and the persistence of
inequality in the criminal justice system. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 27(3), 183-187.
The authors of this article focused on the US criminal justice
process, particularly incarceration and policing. They argued
that racial disparities could prompt fear and stereotypic
associations linking people of African American origin to
crime. Further, the authors suggest that instead of reexamining
the criminal justice system, the statistics regarding disparities
may instead offer the opportunity for justification and
rationalization of the criminal justice system disparities. The
authors propose three possible strategies through which data
regarding racial disparities can be presented more effectively.
First, they propose that future research should test whether

8. presenting data on disparities and describing how those
disparities arose may be a more effective way of framing
inequality. Second, the authors suggest that exposure to data
regarding racial inequalities in the criminal justice process may
reinforce implicit relations associating African Americans with
violence, crime, aggression, and threat. Finally, they suggest
that instead of prioritizing institutions, we should prioritize
individuals as this perpetuates inequality.
Stewart, E. A., Warren, P. Y., Hughes, C., & Brunson, R. K.
(2020). Race, ethnicity, and criminal justice contact:
Reflections for future research. Race and Justice, 10(2), 119-
149.
The objective of this study was threefold. First, the authors
explored the current state of the race–justice research regarding
policing, sentencing, and victimization. They then explored the
impact of income, communities, and families. They then
concluded by providing two important directions for future
research. First, they propose that future research should look
into the impact of incarceration on neighborhood and individual
processes, particularly civic engagement. Previous research has
shown that aggravated incarceration affects the civic process by
escalating political participation barriers amongst minority
groups. Hence, these groups end up mistrusting the political and
criminal justice systems. Second, the authors propose that
future research should examine disparities at multiple points in
the criminal justice process to determine both indirect and
direct effects of race on the outcome of cases. This is because
the criminal justice process has long been characterized by the
disproportionate representation of minority groups at every
stage.
Kurlychek, M. C., & Johnson, B. D. (2019). A cumulative
disadvantage in the American criminal justice system. Annual
Review of Criminology, 2, 291-319.
The authors of this article offer an overview of how minority
groups are disadvantaged in life and extension the criminal

9. justice process. The authors analyzed evidence from previous
empirical research regarding prosecution, policing, and the
courts. Further, they examined the relationship between these
largely separate bodies of scholarship. There has been extensive
research on unfairness in punishment; however, much focus has
been on periodic disproportion in the stages of the criminal
justice process from arrest to prosecution, and finally
sentencing. The authors note that despite cumulative
disadvantage theories in criminology, they do not adequately
account for inequality in the criminal justice process. The
authors conclude by calling
for future research focusing on the effects of life-course
disadvantages on contact with the criminal justice process.