Prosecutorial Overcharging among African American
We live in the 21st century, yet racism still is a concerning topic, especially for African Americans. It is now evident that African Americans are being charged at a higher rate than white people (Williams, 2019). According to San Francisco’s district attorney, the number of African Americans in the criminal justice system is overwhelming compared to other communities in the city (Borchetta, 2017). Whereas racial injustices continue to spread like wildfire all across the globe, there is a need to focus on the statistical data reflecting on prosecutorial overcharging among African Americans.
There has been a lot of racial disparities in plea-bargaining and charging of African American defendants. According to Berdejo (2018), many of the arrest cases in America involve African Americans. Subsequently, the black defendants are sentenced to longer jail terms than that of white people (Hayes, 2014). A good example in America is the Floyd case against a white defendant known as Owens. Both Floyd and Owens were arrested for armed robbery at the age of 21 and 19, respectively. Despite both crimes being similar, Owens was sentenced to the county jail for two years, while the African American Floyd was sentenced to federal prison for 26 years (Martin, 2014). Owing to this case, I can firmly conclude that black defendants get harsher sentences when compared to white defendants.
According to recent studies examining criminal justice in America, 35% of all drug-related crimes are committed by African Americans. Besides, 13% of criminal convictions involve lighter sentences to the whites, but 75% of African Americans are sentenced to longer jail terms. All in all, it is conclusive to assume that whites have superior treatment than African Americans in the US criminal justice system.
References
Berdejo, C. (2018). Criminalizing Race: Racial disparities in plea-bargaining.
Borchetta, J. (2017). When race tips the scale in plea bargaining.
Hayes, M. (2014). Blacks overcharged, forced more often into plea bargains.
Martin, C. (2014). Influence of race and ethnicity on charge severity in Chicago homicide cases: An investigation of prosecutorial Discretion.
Williams, T. (2019). Black people are charged at a higher rate than whites. What if the prosecutors didn’t know their race?