![Race
Inequality
in the
American
Justice
System
“...when a black man happens to be on trial...it is not so much the business of his enemies to prove
him guilty, as it is the business of himself to prove his innocence. The reasonable doubt which is
interposed to save the life and liberty of a white man charged with [a] crime, seldom has any force
or effect when a coloured man in accused of [a] crime.” Frederick Douglas, 1697.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNzdUrIIp8#t=247)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Continuous Analytical Reflection
Similar to Continuous Analytical Reflection (11)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Continuous Analytical Reflection
- 1. Continuous Analytical Reflection Amy Jonusas 16327942 Week 9: Citizenship and Inequality 1: The Overview Week 11: Citizenship and Inequality 111: Gender and Sexuality Week 13: Action for Change 11: 21st Century Revolutions http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief16/tab1-high.jpg http://www.styleite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/rape.jpg http://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/unicefad_opt.jpg
- 2. Race Inequality in the American Justice System “...when a black man happens to be on trial...it is not so much the business of his enemies to prove him guilty, as it is the business of himself to prove his innocence. The reasonable doubt which is interposed to save the life and liberty of a white man charged with [a] crime, seldom has any force or effect when a coloured man in accused of [a] crime.” Frederick Douglas, 1697. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNzdUrIIp8#t=247)
- 4. Some facts about the Death Penalty and Race • Since 1977, 77% of death row defendants have been executed for killing white victims, even though African-Americans make up about half of all homicide victims. • From initial charging decisions to plea bargaining to jury sentencing, African-Americans are treated more harshly when they are defendants. • 1/3 of African-American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentences of life imprisonment instead if they were not African-American http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-facts/death-
- 5. Every 0.01 hours someone in the United States is arrested for having marijuana; a black person is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested than a white person. http://media-cache-cd0.pinimg.com/236x/01/11/50/011150bae6db2ad5eebee8c5d08b9fc7.jpg https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/marijuana-arrests-numbers
- 6. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Text North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act: Racial Bias on Death Row Acluvideos, 2013
- 7. The emergence of ‘slacktivism’Look, if you make a Facebook page we will “like” it—it’s the least we can do. But it’s also the most we can do. (Seth Meyers, Weekend Update, Saturday Night Live, September 22, 2012) http://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/rise-of-the-slacktivist-infographic.jpeg http://www.spiritofspider.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Picture-7.png
- 8. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Activism vs Slacktivism
- 10. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Your ‘like’ doesn’t help charities, it’s just activism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efVFiLigmbc
- 11. 5 Ways to Ensure Better Giving: • “Invite commitments to specific acts of giving” - pledging a portion of income. • “Make the behaviour, not the signature, public” - signing a petition confidentially. • “Highlight the right reason to give” - benefits others, makes you feel good. • “Encourage reflection on past contributions” - how have you helped others before. • “Humanise the need” - individual focus encourages participation. (Grant, 2013)
- 12. Why are women still being told ‘they asked for it’? http://projectunbreakable.tumblr.com/
- 13. “Rape culture is telling girls and women to be careful about what you wear, how you wear it, how you carry yourself, where you walk, when you walk there, with whom you walk, whom you trust, what you do, where you do it, with whom you do it, what you drink, how much you drink, whether you make eye contact, if you're alone, if you're with a stranger, if you're in a group, if you're in a group of strangers, if it's dark, if the area is unfamiliar, if you're carrying something, how you carry it, what kind of shoes you're wearing in case you have to run, what kind of purse you carry, what jewellery you wear, what time it is, what street it is, what environment it is, how many people you sleep with, what kind of people you sleep with, who your friends are, to whom you give your number, who's around when the delivery guy comes, to get an apartment where you can see who's at the door before they can see you, to check before you open the door to the delivery guy, to own a dog or a dog-sound- making machine, to get a roommate, to take self-defence, to always be alert always pay attention always watch your back always be aware of your surroundings and never let your guard down for a moment lest you be sexually assaulted and if you are and didn't follow all the rules it's your fault.” What is rape culture?
- 14. QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Rape: It’s Your Fault (video) https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hC0Ng_ajpY
- 15. “Rape culture is refusing to acknowledge that the only thing a person can do to avoid being raped is never be in the same room as a rapist” (McEwan, 2103). http://i.imgur.com/ObFlgWs.jpg Taylor, 2007
- 16. What were you wearing when you were assaulted? (Testa, 2014)
- 17. Acluvideos. (2013, April 5). North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act: Racial bias on death row [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNzdUrIIp8#t=247 Alexander, P. G. (1999). Inequality and sentencing: Is race a factor in the criminal justice system? Law and Inequality, 17, 233- 237. Retrieved from http://www.heinonline.org All India Bakchod. (2013, September 9). Rape: It’s your fault [Video file]. Retrieved from https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hC0Ng_ajpY Buchwald, E., Fletcher, P. R., & Roth, M. (2005). Transforming a rape culture. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Milkweed Editions. DNews. (2013, November 15). Your ‘like’ doesn’t help charities, it’s just slacktivism [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efVFiLigmbc Denise, H. B. (2013). Race and politics. Diverse Issues in Higher Education. 30(16), 12-13. Retrieved from http://www.proquest.com Grant, A. (2013, May 12). Are you a slacktivist? Huffington Post. Retrived from http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/ Herman, D. F. (1988). The rape culture. Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing.Kristofferson, K., White, K., & Peloza, J. (2014). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149-1166. doi:10.1086/674137 References
- 18. ReferencesKristofferson, K., White, K., & Peloza, J. (2014). The nature of slacktivism: How the social observability of an initial act of token support affects subsequent prosocial action. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(6), 1149-1166. doi:10.1086/674137 Learn Liberty. (2013, January 14). Racial inequality in the criminal justice system [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfie5bHG1OA Legal Information Institute. (n.d.). Sixth Amendment. Cornell University Law School. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment. McEwan, M. (2009, October 2). Rape culture 101. Shakesville. Retrieved from http:// www.shakesville.com/2009/10/rape-culture-10 1.html Nash, K. (2010). Contemporary political society: Globalisation, politics and power. Chichester, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell. Taylor, N. (2007). Juror attitudes and biases in sexual assault cases. Trends and Issues in Crime & Criminal Justice, 340, 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com Testa, J. (2014, March 13). Sexual assault survivors answer the question ‘What were you wearing when you were assaulted?” Buzzfeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/ sexual- assault-survivors-answer-the-question-what-were-you-w Thrash Lab. (2013, April 15). Slacktivists vs activists [Video file]. Retrieved from https:// www.youtube.com/watch? v=0EQFKKJBjwE Valenzuela, S. (2013). Unpacking the use of social media for protest behaviour: The roles of information, opinion expression and
Editor's Notes
- In the chapter ‘Citizenship’ from her book Contemporary political society: Globalisation, politics and power, Kate Nash (2010) presents the idea that “integration through desegregation” is the main issue in regards to citizenship faced by African-Americans in the United States. Due to their history of being forcibly removed from their homeland, forced to work as slaves, and even when freed continually experienced discrimination and prejudice simply based on race. Their fight for full citizenship has been fraught with difficulties, with many African-Americans still feeling the effects of inequality.
- Inferior housing, pay, job opportunities and schools, in addition to higher crime rates compared to whites, demonstrates the disenfranchisement that still persists in the present day (Nash, 2010). However, the opinion that African-Americans are themselves to blame for their situation due to their “inappropriate attitudes towards work and family life” is still prevalent in American society (Nash, 2010). While it is evident that society has grown to be more inclusive of other races, while slowing transforming the current culture into one that actively promotes equality for all, one area which is still falling very behind in terms of equality is the criminal justice system in America.
- Amendment Six of the Bill of Rights declares that an American citizen accused of a crime will have “...the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury...” (Legal Information Insititute, n.d.). Despite this promise of fair judicial preceedings, African-Americans do not seem to enjoy the same right. In a review of twenty-eight race and the death penalty studies, it was found that in 82% of these studies the race of the victim influenced whether an individual received the death penalty, meaning that those who murdered whites were more likely sentenced to death (Rothchild, 2007).
- The history of the American criminal justice system demonstrates just how far and wide inequality extends to individuals who belong to a race other than white. African-Americans have been systematically punished more harshly throughout time, such as receiving more lashes than a white person for the same crime, death penalty legislation in Pennsylvania in 1697 meant that black people were sentenced to death and castrated for the rape of a white woman compared to the penalty of fining, whipping and one-year imprisonments given to white men, and the passing of laws that regarded minor offences of black individuals as felonies (Alexander, 1999).
- Recent events have continued to illustrate the divide between white and black people. A survey concerned with responses to African-American teenager Trayvon Martin’s acquittal of his killer, revealed an eighty-six percent disatisfaction rate from black people, compared to thirty percent of white people (Denise, 2013). The history of black inequality is reinforced through stories like these, further highlighting the struggles they face. According to Dr Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College, “Trayvon Martin is a reminder of how little their lives are valued in society” (Denise, 2013). With difficulties like this to overcome, much more needs to be done to ensure fairness is personified in the criminal justice system, especially in relation to African-Americans.
- In March 2012, a video hit social media, describing the atrocities being carried out in Uganda by Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistace Army. According to social analytics company Topsy, on the seventh of March just two days after the video’s release, there was almost two and a half million tweets relating to Kony, with almost five and a half million tweets made about Kony in 2012. In addition, the extensive number of shares and likes on Facebook and Youtube demonstrated the swift and far-reaching contact it had. The rise of such a phenomenom led to the popularity of the term ‘slacktivist’, causing society to question the effectiveness of online activism.
- Slacktivism, the opposite of activism, can be defined as the “willingness to perform a relatively costless, token display of support for a social cause, with an accompanying lack of willingness to devote significant effort to enact meaningful change” (Kristofferson, et al., 2014). Token displays of support can include sharing or liking a message on social media, wearing a ribbon or badge, or signing a petition, compared with doing something that would actually personally affect a cause, such as giving finances or time. The popularity of these contributions is reflected in the ease of reproduction, as one does not have to sacrifice anything to feel part of the mission.
- By examining social media use and protest behaviour in Chile, a study found that those who used Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and GooglePlus were more almost eleven times more likely to attend street protests and seven times more likely to publicly voice their opinions to authority, than those who did not use social media (Valenzuela, 2013). This study assists in highlighting the practical nature of online networking, helping to support the view that online activism can be beneficial. However, the context surrounding this study is integral to understanding if people only become activists if their livelihoods are personally threated.
- In a study conducted by Kristofferson, White and Peloza (2014), individuals who had initially supported a cause through token methods did not always follow up with a more generous contribution, demonstrating the existence of slacktivism. Whether such minor displays of endorsement are a positive or negative addition to social movements is a topic that garners much discussion and debate. While online activism has experienced its fair share of criticism, not everyone is convinced of its failure. Robert Daniels (2010) from the charity Global Campaign for Education, believes that “interaction on social media leads to something...every contribution matters”. The delivery of information throughout the world as a result of social media should not be ignored, as promoting awareness is an important part of supporting a cause.
- While studies promote both the value of online activism and the emergence of slacktivism, it is clear that using social media to create awareness and generate support can be very useful in publicising a cause. By getting people to focus on private, specific acts, reflect on past contributions while reaching their sense of empathy, individuals can move from inactive supporters to genuine activists (Grant, 2013). Without a change in attitude, slacktivism could continue to overpower meaningful contributions.
- In a society that attempts to create equality between the sexes, an area that illuminates the imbalance still experienced between them is the sexual assault of women. While rape and other forms of sexual violence occur to both men an/d women, the idea of a fair nation is tarnished when the female gender is accused of ‘asking for it’ or doing something to increase their risk of violation. The excuses made to either blame a victim or lessen the culpability of the accused continues to encourage the patriarchal violence that exists in the community.
- Rape culture is described by Buchwald, Fletcher and Roth (2005) as a “complex set of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women”. It belongs to the idea that women have to be constantly on guard to ensure that they are not sexually assaulted, having to prescribe to a set of rules that cannot be unbroken. Melissa McEwan, contributor of feminist blog Shakesville, describes rape culture as one where women are persistently told to "learn common sense...be more responsible...be aware of bar room risks...avoid these places...don’t dress this way and failing to admonish men to not rape”. This focus results in the taking away of responsibility from rapists, while forcing those who are sexually abused to exist in a circle of blame and guilt.
- Having one of the lowest rates of acquittal compared to other offences, it is not surprising that less than thirty percent of sexual assault cases are reported to police (Taylor, 2005). The experience of having to testify can be distressing at the most basic of trials, but coupled with the assumed fault of the victim can make it unbearable. Overwhelming condemning attitudes of the community, such as the victim asked for it, men rape due to their inability to control their desires and women mean ‘yes’ when they say ‘no’, demonstrate the deeply ingrained societal judgements towards the victim. Until it is realised than no woman is ever at fault for being raped, the damaging cycle of blaming the victim and the removal of responsibility from men will allow violence towards women to be continued.
- In the International Violence Against Women Survey (2004), a number of thought-provoking responses surrounding sexually-based violence from Australian women emerged: Incidents involving strangers were more likely to be thought of as crimes, than those involving known abusers. Very few women reported these incidents to police, but were more likely to report those consisting of a stranger attacker, rather than one who was known to them. Of those who did not report the incident to the police, almost half reported feeling as if it was “too minor to involve the police”. Only four percent of women who were assaulted by a partner reported the incident to police, considering the incident to be “very serious and a crime”.
- Rapists are unremarkable in terms of appearance, personality, behaviour, intelligence and character (Hermann) There is no way to determine who is going to be a rapist, with even the most morally-appearing individual capable of rape. The perpetuation of the rumour that women can somehow lessen their chances of being sexually assaulted can generate a false sense of security, as rape occurs in all circumstances, to all women. Those convicted of sexual assaults are twice as likely to blame their victim than other offenders, saying that they are “bad women”, with a “questionable sexual reputation”, or just “getting what she deserved” (Herman)