Matthew Barnebee

Brendan Hawkins
Barnebee 1
ENC 2135

29 Oct 2017

Research Project

Some of the most prevalent discussions in recent social and political circles have

involved reforming the criminal justice system to make it less biased against minorities.

Systematic inequality and institutional racism within the system has been the reason behind

countless peaceful protests, even cited to be the original controversy that sparked the NFL

national anthem protests. The foundation for reform is based off the notion that the criminal

justice system projects racism towards minorities in several ways. In order to inquire about

methods of changing the system to make it more unbiased and neutral for all citizens, we must

first address the ways that the system displays institutional bias so that we can learn from our

mistakes. It should be noted, however, that viewing the criminal justice system as a biased

institution does not diminish appreciation for the brave, unbiased work that many law

enforcement officers exhibit daily to protect the law-abiding citizens of the United States and a

valid argument can be made that there is a significant difference between the systematic racism

of an institution and the racism of an individual who works for the institution.

It is crucial to first identify why criminal justice reform, as it relates to race relations, is

such an important issue. 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont summarizes it

best in page 378 of his book Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. Being a police officer is an

extremely difficult and stressful job. That is all the more reason we must stand up and

denounce acts of illegal behavior when they are perpetrated by the police. Police officers must be

held accountable. In a society based on law, nobody can be above the law, especially those who

are charged with enforcing the law. This can be applied specifically to bias against minorities. If
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a group of minorities is suppressed by those who are supposed to protect them, then law

enforcement fails to do the job it was intended to do in protecting all the nations domestic

citizens. The old adage that someone needs to protect us from those who protect us that

Sanders pays homage to holds much truth (especially when it comes to minorities in the U.S),

and it magnifies the urgency in stopping institutional racism dead in its tracks.

It is also important to first understand that institutional bias is not limited to only police

shootings or brutality. Recent documented, publicized fatal shootings of minorities like Ariel

Denkins, Gregory Gunn, Samuel DuBose, Brandon Glenn, Freddie Gray, Natasha McKenna,

Walter Scott, Christian Taylor, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner have caused outrage amongst

people from all walks of life (Tina Susman 1). Yet it is difficult to only look at these cases

because there are no statistics that can support any indisputable or irrefutable true intentions of

either the police officers or the suspects in question. Therefore, we can additionally observe other

factors involving institutional bias like incarceration, unfair punishment, or arrest rates.

But what do the statistics exactly say about the criminal justice systems stance on

minorities? For one, the minor offense of a minority male might be pursued more aggressively

than the minor offense of a white male. For example, statistics show that blacks, whites, and

Hispanics generally abuse illegal drugs at the same proportion per capita. Yet blacks have an

arrest rate for drugs that doubles their percentage of the U.S. population (Bill Quigley 1). More

particularly, blacks are almost four times more likely to be arrested on charge of marijuana

possession than whites (Quigley 1). If a system supports inequality, then it is possible the

followers of the system are going to subliminally support the inequality, meaning to or not. This

is not to say that all members of law enforcement hold racist view points against minorities, but

it does show that the system is largely unbalanced. Put in simpler terms, if there were to be a
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scale measuring the sum of minorities treated unfairly compared to the majority, that very scale

would heavily weigh down the minorities and lift up the majority. This implication shows that a

great change needs to be made in criminal justice reformation to make sure this theoretical scale

is balanced and equal.

The allegation that minorities receive heavier sentences for smaller offenses can be

exemplified through the case of Sharanda Jones in 1999. Jones, described by Jeannine Amber in

journal entry from Essence, was a black female and first-time offender charged with the

distribution of cocaine (100). Crack (a byproduct of cocaine) distribution and consumption is

often associated with blacks. The judge in the case made the legal assumption that the cocaine

Jones was distributing was likely to be molded into crack. Crack offenses carry significantly

more punishment as compared to the drug she was caught possessing (cocaine). To receive a 10-

year prison sentence, it would take 5,000 grams of cocaine as compared to only fifty grams of

crack. As a result of the ruling, Jones was sentenced to life in prison (Amber 101).

In terms of analyzing empirical, physical data, we can begin by looking at the proportion

of black-to-white incarcerations in the United States compared to black-to-white citizens, to help

gain an improved perception of the bias the criminal justice system represents. The percentage of

blacks in America according to the United States Census Bureau is roughly 13.3%. Yet in 2000,

the percentage of incarcerated juvenile blacks across the nation was at 58%. That number has

increased to 61% as of 2014 (Eric Zogry 558). To put it into perspective, that is almost five times

the percentage of blacks in the United States. Therefore, it is conclusive that the citizen-to-

incarceration ratio amongst black juveniles is extremely un-proportional. Yet this obvious bias,

unfortunately, is not contained solely within numbers of incarceration, but extended to the

political field as well.

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One of the most commonly cited examples of institutional bias within the criminal justice

system is the idea of cleverly taking away the political rights of individuals who have committed

crimes that dont typically lead to such a punishment. According to Gerald Fosten, a research

associate at the African Institute in Washington, D.C., the reason for doing this is to shrink the

potential size of the minoritys electorate, thereby undermining the political power of the

subordinate groups and marginalize a subordinate group and continue the established social

structure of the majority (124). The deliberate act of minimalizing the impact of a minoritys

ability to make a meaningful decision is referred to as civil death, a practice commonly used in

the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations (Fosten 124). This is a major problem especially

when a convicted minority was politically active prior to a minor charge. Many of the same

minorities who may make an impact in the political sphere have their voices stripped for the sole

purpose of increasing the majoritys ability to institute valuable laws without minority

interference. Perhaps the reasoning behind this collective civil death is to prevent minorities from

using their voice to effectively change the criminal justice systems already existing biases.

Attention must also be paid to the process of indicting police officers who are questioned

exhibit racial discrimination when handling minority suspects. Famous cases like the shooting of

Michael Brown and choking of Eric Garner have caused many to wonder why the accused

officers were not reprimanded or punished. Explained by Kate Levine in the Iowa Law Review, a

primary reason is because the officers were represented by local prosecutors, ultimately creating

a conflict of interest (1450). Because these officers and prosecutors work closely together, it

creates a threat to prosecutorial legitimacy. The prosecutor could have easily led the case in

entirely different direction as compared to a different prosecutor with no conflict of interest. So

why was this allowed to happen in cases that carried such an important stake for America? The
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answer is that the discrepancy in justice represents a clear existing institutional bias within the

criminal justice system. Questioning a police officer in an important case is hard enough as is.

Throwing in a biased prosecutor only makes matters worse for all parties involved.

In the defense of the criminal justice community at large, specific case studies also show

that many members of the justice community, including those at the top, seek true fairness and

equality. One such example is provided by Professors Lucas Loafman and Andrew Little of

Texas A&M University and Abilene Christian University, respectively. They describe that in the

case of 1971s Griggs vs Duke Power Company, the Duke Power Company tried to disqualify

blacks who already worked for the company by stating all employees must have a high school

diploma (which most blacks working for the company did not have). The Supreme Court decided

that this was unlawful because a high school diploma is unrelated to job performance (Loafman

and Little 256). They stated that any deliberate attempt to weed out a group of people by

implementing a new standard is illegal. This goes to show that not all members of the criminal

justice community are racists. The men and women of the Supreme Court represent the criminal

justice system more than anyone, and in more situations than one they have tried to rule in favor

of equality for minorities. Unfortunately, the noble display of fairness displayed people of the

supreme court doesnt seem to translate to equal incarceration sentences, brutality, or shootings.

Many case studies also show that minority-related tragedies in the criminal justice

community can be blamed on both the criminal justice member and the minority in question. One

particular study that articulates this notion is the case of Amadou Diallo, a 22-year-old immigrant

from the country of Guinea. According to the four law enforcement officers involved in his tragic

death, Diallo looked similar to a suspect that was a notorious rapist in New York City. None of

the officers were in their official NYPD uniforms, but they assured Diallo they were off-duty
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police officers. Diallo then proceeded to put his hand in his pocket, and all four of the officers

fired 19 bullets into his body (Susman 1). The lack of communication by both the parties

involved implies that that the fatal shooting was not entirely the fault of one party over another,

but rather the mishap of both.

Even with all these facts supporting institutional bias, it is also still essential to perhaps

give deserving officers the benefit of the doubt. Ronnie Carter, a black police officer writing for

the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, provides wise insight into why officers might act differently

towards minorities. He states that different cultures view things in different ways, indicating

that it is the law enforcement officers job to be sensitive to varying cultures (15). However, he

also proclaims that the suspect should be aware that the law enforcement officer can still use

brute force if absolutely necessary. This can be called the law enforcement-suspect relationship.

Its just a more complicated version of making sure someone holds their hands at 10 and 2 when

being pulled over by a police officer to keep the officer calm (the calmer the officer is, the easier

it is for the same officer to make an informed and wise decision in case of a quick-time event).

So how can we use these case studies and statistics to reform the criminal justice system

into a more equal institution? Leaders in the criminology populace believe that the key to

reducing bias is education and diversity. Ruth D. Peterson, the first black president of the

American Society of Criminology, says that unbiased research will provide the catalyst for

change (245). Peterson encourages the ASC to continue to grow the diversity of its membership

and to integrate the research and findings of scholars of color into the mainstream of

criminology and to take further steps to conduct research and share findings with diverse

audiences to ensure that post-truth does not become normative regarding crime and justice
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issues. This is a common consensus amongst pro-reformation activists in the criminal justice

community.

So the question still remains: is the criminal justice and law enforcement community

actually providing justice to citizens of all races and ethnicities? There is enough coming from

people of all races, ethnicities, religions, and creeds that the answer to that question is no. The

good news is that we can learn from the mistakes of our current system to create a less biased

institution in the future, so we can have a healthy relationship with the criminal justice

community that it deserves. The issue of reforming the criminal justice system to make it more

fair deserves the attention of all who the love the United States and aim to make it a better place

for all her citizens.

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Works Cited

Amber, Jeannine. Trumped. Essence, Sep 2017, Vol. 48 Issue 5, pp. 100-103.

Carter, Ronnie A. Improving Minority Relations. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Dec 95, Vol.

64 Issue 12, pp. 14-17.

Fosten, Gerald K. Perspectives on Social Inequality, Criminal Justice, and Race in the United

States: a Critical Analysis. Journal of Pan African Studies, Nov 2016, Vol. 9 Issue 9, pp.

122-142.

Levine, Kate. Who Shouldnt Prosecute the Police. Iowa Law Review, May 2016, Vol. 101

Issue 4, pp. 1447-1496.

Loafman, Lucas and Andrew Little. Race, Employment, and Crime: The Shifting Landscape of

Disparate Impact Discrimination Based on Criminal Convictions. American Business

Law Journal, Summer 2014, Vol. 51 Issue 2, pp. 251-314.

Peterson, Ruth D. Interrogating Race, Crime, and Justice in a Time of Unease and Racial

Tension. Criminology, May 2017, Vol. 55 Issue 2, pp. 245-272.

Quigly, Bill. 18 Examples of Racism in the Criminal Justice Legal System. Huffington Post,

14 Oct 2017. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/18-examples-of-racism-in-criminal-

legal-system_us_57f26bf0e4b095bd896a1476. Accessed 1 October 2017.

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Sanders, Bernie. Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. St. Martins Press, 2016.

Susman, Tina. From Ferguson to Baton Rouge: Deaths of Black Men and Women at the Hands

of Police. Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2016. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-

police-deaths-20160707-snap-htmlstory.html. Accessed 1 Oct 2017.

Zogry, Eric J. Race and Reform: A Missed Opportunity for Meaningful Impact and Potential

Remedies. Wake Forest Law Review, Autumn 2016, Vol. 51 Issue 3, pp. 545-564.