Racism of the US Justice System...

A study by the Justice Policy Institute shows that, although blacks and whites possess and sell illegal drugs at about the same rate, blacks are ten times as likely to be sent to jail on drug charges (Justice Policy Institute, Reuters).

www.gather.com...

While many claim that the long tradition of racism in the united states ended with the Civil Rights Movement
of the 1960s, the legacies of slavery and segregation continue to affect u.s. society on all levels. Today, African-
Americans are disproportionately imprisoned by racist drug laws, denied access to the economic and educational benefits enjoyed by Anglo-Americans, and robbed of their civil rights and human dignity by a pervasive white supremacy that lurks just beneath the surface of our so-called democracy.

www.prisonactivist.org...

This country’s criminal justice system has not escaped the influence of, and is frequently the direct tool for, this racism.
Our criminal injustice system creates a situation in which African-American men have greater than a 1 in 4 chance of going to prison (compared to 1 in 23 for a white man) and in which the violence and horror of lynching have been transformed and institutionalized into a new form: the racist death penalty.
(Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997.)

African-Americans represent:
• 12.7% of the US population
• 15% of US drug users
(72% of all users are white)
• 36.8% of those arrested for a
drug abuse violation
• 48.2% of American adults in State
or Federal prisons and local jails
• 42.5% of prisoners under
sentence of death

www.prisonactivist.org...

Why does America’s criminal “justice” system incarcerate such a disproportionate number of African-Americans?













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Why would you start this crap again ?

What 'crap' are you talking about?

This is the first post i've ever made....

You don't think injustice is a legitimate topic?

guess not....

Affirmative Action is racism too, but why won't you complain about that?

reply to post by jambatrumpet


Well, racism for one...

But, I think it has to do with how our justice system is for profit. Whites being the majority it makes sense that they would also be the larger percentile when it comes to drug use in comparison to other minorities. At the same time, African Americans tend to be poorer than white Americans. Having money means better representation in the courtroom, less chance of being profiled for a drug related crime, and interacting with a different class of dealer.

...Back to racism. It isn't an open type thing nowadays. What we have to today is institutionalized racism. While the judge or prosecution may not be racists themselves, the laws and systems in place are. It's similar to how everyone thinks there is a growing police brutality problem. I disagree, I argue that police have always been this brutal, it's just now white people are being treated how black people have been treated for decades.

Reverse racism is a claim not backed up by numbers... According to Bureau of National Affairs Employment Discrimination Report, most court cases concerning white males being turned down for a job are found not to be because of Affirmative Action, but because of a lack of qualifications and shortcomings.

That being said, not being awarded a job or admittance to a college is not equivalent being placed in shackles...

I'm not sure I understand your response, are you saying a racist Justice system is acceptable because of the existence of affirmative action?

reply to post by AdAbsurdum


Great points AdAbsurdum... Here are some figures about white/black treatment after charged with crimes...

• Blacks and Latinos with multiple drug convictions or prison records received harsher penalties than whites with similar criminal histories.

• Whites with three or more drug convictions were sentenced to probation more often than prison, while blacks and Latinos went to prison more often.

• For all but the most severe offenses, whites were most likely to be convicted, but least likely to be sentenced to prison.

• Whites are three times as likely as blacks to receive a special probation that allows a charge to be expunged if the probation was successfully completed. Latinos were twice as likely as blacks.

• Blacks were more likely to be charged with more serious offenses than Latinos and whites.

reply to post by jambatrumpet


While i agree that there are still injustices and discrimination in the justice system... and while i also believe that there has been a plot, for many decades, to segregate and dehumanise populations in order to keep us divided.

To say that African Americans wear their pants low due to prisoners not being given back their belts is a little inaccurate and a slightly naive. It’s almost as if you are suggesting that all those with low belts are ex cons who have never been able to attain another belt since their release from prison.

When in prison, ALL, prisoners have their belts removed. This means that many of the prisoners, who naturally lose some weight while inside, end up with pants that do not fit. After time their pants start to naturally hang.

Due to society’s current obsession with criminality and the "anti-Hero" this has been turned into a fashion trend by certain elements of youth... mainly black youth but some white too.

In my opinion this is not so much a representation of injustice as a representation of youth ignorance, stupidity and lack of wisdom.

To idolise the biggest failures of society shows just how far the brainwashed victim mentality and gangster culture has been shoved down children’s throats from a media that loves to glamorise and shock in order to make money.

When i see any youth walking along with his pants hanging down i do not think... "Poor victim" or "wow how cool" I think... "There goes another brainwashed idiot on the road to nowhere"

Peace

Originally posted by jambatrumpet
A study by the Justice Policy Institute shows that, although blacks and whites possess and sell illegal drugs at about the same rate, blacks are ten times as likely to be sent to jail on drug charges (Justice Policy Institute, Reuters).

Are there any statistics that tell us the percentages of each particular drug that each race are charged with possessing and supplying ?

I'm not from the US, and perhaps I've been watching too many shows like ''The Wire'', but hard drugs flourish in the most deprived neighbourhoods, and these neighbourhoods tend to have a higher proportion of black people living in them, than the national average.

While I doubt this could account entirely for the discrepancy in the number of black people being imprisoned for drug offences, surely it can't be ignored that a lot of these sentences will be for selling crack or heroin in the ''ghetto''.

If we're talking about a discrepancy in the number of custodial sentences handing out to different races, if they are for the same offence ( eg, selling cannabis ), then that would be more of a worry.

Originally posted by jambatrumpet
Today, African-Americans are disproportionately imprisoned by racist drug laws, denied access to the economic and educational benefits enjoyed by Anglo-Americans, and robbed of their civil rights and human dignity by a pervasive white supremacy that lurks just beneath the surface of our so-called democracy.

There must be many black judges in the US, too.

Is there any research that shows whether they hand out disproportionate sentences to a particular race ?

I've had a quick search, but I can't seem to find any statistics on this.

Originally posted by jambatrumpet
• 48.2% of American adults in State
or Federal prisons and local jails
• 42.5% of prisoners under
sentence of death

Why does America’s criminal “justice” system incarcerate such a disproportionate number of African-Americans?

The statistics at face value are a bit misleading.

We would have to know how many black people commit imprisonable offences, and how many black people commit crimes that are subject to the death penalty.

Here for example:

Murder Offenders by Age, Sex, and Race, 2008

The 2008 murder statistics show that 51.4% of murders where the race of the perpetrator is known, are committed by black people.

With that in mind, then the 42.5% figure of black people that are sentenced to death, doesn't look out of place.

If they had any brains, they'd steal a belt. Instead, they get out of jail and go hold up a 7-11.

reply to post by jambatrumpet


Yo

Talking about Racism in america today is not acceptible if you are writing about black people at the receiving end of racism. Carping about the evils of equal opportunity, affirmative action (very evil), Holocaust denial, and the right to use the N world is perfectly acceptable. Don't believe me just look at previous posts. Welcome to the wierd and wacky world of ATS!

Having said that I really hate the way our black men have their trousers almost off their asses. I once worked in a youth club and one young wannabee did not want to pay the entrance fee (it was a token coin). So he stormed into the club sat down like he owned it and told me in no uncertain terms he was not paying.

well I tried being gentle and nothing worked so I just dragged him out buy his ankles (my club, my rules). Well I pulled his pants down as I was dragging him along the floor! It was not a prettysight

Hang in there.

Did I miss something?

Just WHY do black people wear their pants so low???


This is important and must be addressed by the council!

Originally posted by Muckster
reply to post by jambatrumpet

 

To say that African Americans wear their pants low due to prisoners not being given back their belts is a little inaccurate and a slightly naive. It’s almost as if you are suggesting that all those with low belts are ex cons who have never been able to attain another belt since their release from prison.

When in prison, ALL, prisoners have their belts removed. This means that many of the prisoners, who naturally lose some weight while inside, end up with pants that do not fit. After time their pants start to naturally hang.

Due to society’s current obsession with criminality and the "anti-Hero" this has been turned into a fashion trend by certain elements of youth... mainly black youth but some white too.

In my opinion this is not so much a representation of injustice as a representation of youth ignorance, stupidity and lack of wisdom.

To idolise the biggest failures of society shows just how far the brainwashed victim mentality and gangster culture has been shoved down children’s throats from a media that loves to glamorise and shock in order to make money.

When i see any youth walking along with his pants hanging down i do not think... "Poor victim" or "wow how cool" I think... "There goes another brainwashed idiot on the road to nowhere"

Peace

edit on 25-9-2010 by Muckster because: spelling

Your explanation is much more insightful than my original statement (made to grab attention and introduce the topic...). Thank you for the CORRECT answer to the question posed...i agree- my answer was, as you say, 'a little inaccurate and slightly naive'.

Oh my!
Eggs, Bacon, Coffee, a smoke and some racism for breakfast !
It would be nice if there could be little flames coming off the letters to the thread title.
Nothin like some hot bait trolling for an argument at sunrise.
The release rate at the local prison must be high due to overpopulation, and those damn little white kids wearin those low pants were probably robbed by the freshly released bigger black men for their belts.
See.
this racism crap will always have a breath in its lungs as long as it's promoted, and all this thread does is promote it.
There's no jusification for this, when you continue to give it life, it will always live.

You people need to read the superb book by Erik Rush - Negrophilia - as he debunks completely the lie that the US criminal justice system is in any way racist against Blacks.

It is a lie put out by the Far Left.

Book link here ;

www.amazon.com...

And by the way, he is black.

This whole idea that the US criminal justice system is racist is pure Marxist lies.

reply to post by RestingInPieces


I'm sorry... but was that reply sarcasm??

I hope so...

Oh yeah, and on the topic of low slung pants, Rush reveals that in the prison system the wearing of the pants low to reveal the buttocks is a sign that the prisoner is someones 'bitch' and therefore their property.

A bit pathetic that isnt it. Why anyone would want to reveal they are a sex slave is a bit sad.

Oh and does anyone want to talk about the disproportionate rapes of white prisoners in US prisons by black males as a feature of racism ?

Nah, thought not.

Originally posted by Sherlock Holmes


Are there any statistics that tell us the percentages of each particular drug that each race are charged with possessing and supplying ?

According to U.S. Sentencing Commission figures, no class of drug is as racially skewed as crack in terms of numbers of offenses. According to the commission, 79 percent of 5,669 sentenced crack offenders in 2009 were black, versus 10 percent who were white and 10 percent who were Hispanic. The figures for the 6,020 powder coc aine cases are far less skewed: 17 percent of these offenders were white, 28 percent were black, and 53 percent were Hispanic. Combined with a 115-month average imprisonment for crack offenses versus an average of 87 months for coc aine offenses, this makes for more African-Americans spending more time in the prison system.

reply to post by Muckster

Nicely put Muck, makes you wonder what the next fashion symbol will be.
The influence and control is one hard challenge, too bad normal folk cant access the air waves to promote peace and education.

WAKE UP !


YOU ARE BELIEVING MARXIST LIES !

THE TRUTH IS HERE ;


www.city-journal.org...


The media love to target the federal crack penalties because crack defendants are likely to be black. In 2006, 81 percent of federal crack defendants were black, while only 27 percent of federal powder-coc aine defendants were. Since federal crack rules are more severe than those for powder, and crack offenders are disproportionately black, those rules must explain why so many blacks are in prison, the conventional wisdom holds.

But consider the actual number of crack sellers sentenced in federal court each year. In 2006, 5,619 were tried federally, 4,495 of them black. From 1996 to 2000, the federal courts sentenced more powder traffickers (23,743) than crack traffickers (23,121). It’s going to take a lot more than 5,000 or so crack defendants a year to account for the 562,000 black prisoners in state and federal facilities at the end of 2006—or the 858,000 black prisoners in custody overall, if one includes the population of county and city jails. Nor do crack/powder disparities at the state level explain black incarceration rates: only 13 states distinguish between crack and powder sentences, and they employ much smaller sentence differentials.

The press almost never mentions the federal methamphetamine-trafficking penalties, which are identical to those for crack: five grams of meth net you a mandatory minimum five-year sentence. In 2006, the 5,391 sentenced federal meth defendants (nearly as many as the crack defendants) were 54 percent white, 39 percent Hispanic, and 2 percent black. But no one calls the federal meth laws anti-Hispanic or anti-white.