In the society we currently live in, one's can't deny racism !!!!!!

what does race have to do with crime?

Today people of color continue to be disproportionately incarcerated, policed, and sentenced to death at significantly higher rates than their white counterparts. Further, racial disparities in the criminal-justice system threaten communities of color disenfranchising thousands by limiting voting rights and denying equal access to employment, housing, public benefits, and education to millions more. Race is a polarizing feature in american society, nowhere is this more evidence than in the criminal justice system. African american, who comprise twelve percent of the U.S population, account for 47 percent of felony convictions and 54 percent of prison admissions. Studies suggest that one third of african american males aged 20-29 are under the supervision of the criminal justice system on any given day. Minority communities are often suspicious of and hostile towards the criminal justice system and particular police. Consequently, conflicts between police and citizens have been the flashpoint for virtually every recent urban riot. In american society a prevalent representation of crime is that it is overwhelmingly committed by young black men. The reality is that the criminal justice system encounters and processes a number of minority offenders that far surpasses their representation in the general population may corroborate the common notion that being black equates to criminality. Moreover, aside from the actual involvement of blacks in crime and the criminal justice system, other potential contributors to the profiling of criminals of young black males may be various media sources, as a fact the media plays a big role and provides readily accessible depictions of criminality, which may help to shape perceptions about crime and subsequent justice practices.   

In american the law is if you do the crime than sure you do the time, however, not always for the reasons one may think of, because it not just about a crime, or about whether an accused person in fact committed the crime. It is not just about the quality of the evidence, or whether the prosecution can prove a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But its also about race, although one's skin color does not have anything whatsoever to do with whether or not they are guilty of a crime, it matters, race matters in ways that it should not at all. Generally when society think about crime, they normally see black, even when it is not present at all, this type of social problem is what we all have to solve. As a result one in three black males born today can highly expect to spend time in prison during their lifetime. For instance, the death of Trayvon martin who was shot and killed by a white male latter on stating that he killed him for self defence, because there are few black people who have committed burglary in that past and as a result Tryvon was black, therefore, the victim was a criminal in the eye of the criminal-justice. Similar logic is used daily in the assumptions police and citizens make about african americans, especially young males, the black man as a criminal and aggressive stereotype runs deeply in peoples mind.

African American and Hispanic defendants are twice as likely to push for mandatory minimum sentences, leading to longer sentences and disparities in incarceration rates for federal offenses.
“Whites commit crimes but blacks are criminals.” While whites can and do commit a great deal of minor and major crimes, the race as a whole is never tainted by those acts. But when blacks violate the law, all members of the race are considered suspect. Therefore, people who believe that African American or Latino youth are more criminal than any other ethnic groups are simply wrong. The real facts tell us much more than stereotypes. According to the National survey on Drug Use and Health, among youths aged 12 to 17, the rate of current illicit drug use was 11.1 % among whites, and 9.3% among African Americans. However African American youth are arrested for drug offenses at about twice the rate times that of whites, and African American youth represent nearly half 48% of all the youth incarcerated for a drug offense in the juvenile justice system.

According to class discussion Alexander states that people deny racism in the criminal justice system due to its normalization by media despite the mass incarceration of minorities in the United States. He states that the problem is not the propensity to commit crimes by minorities; but rather the systemic discrimination that is deeply rooted in the criminal justice system. This is exacerbated by stereotypes held by Americans, including leaders like President Barrack Obama. Alexander also explains the truth about the war on drugs to be like the vehicle that drives the disproportionate increase in black incarceration rates in the U.S. The war on drugs in Mexico aided by the US has a similar impact, but unfortunately, instead of a hypothetical war on drugs, there is actually militarized conflicts that led to over 60 000 dead within a 6 year period. I truly believe that the war on drugs is extremely narrow minded. In the U.S. it is an attempt to fix a “criminal” probably, which coincidently is only criminal for non-whites. In the Mexico/ U.S. relationship it is seen as apparently a matter of national security. The reality is that drugs are a public health issue. The issue of race is also seen in canada, for instance, since 2005, the number of aboriginal offenders being incarcerated has increased by 43.5%, while non-aboriginal offender rates of incarceration have only increased 9.3 %. Further, aboriginal offenders receive longer sentences. They are also more likely to go to a maximum security prison and they are less likely to be granted parole.

for more information please click here!

http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/comm/presentations/presentations20140307-eng.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/van-jones/are-blacks-a-criminal-rac_b_8398.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/racial-disparity-drug-use_n_3941346.html

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-s-henry/race-matters-even-though-it-shouldnt_b_6133242.html

http://www.alternet.org/books/white-people-commit-most-heinous-crimes-so-why-america-terrified-black-men