Jury Proceedings and Ethnicity
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Jury Proceedings and Ethnicity
Racial of ethnicity plays a significant part in the current criminal justice system in the United States of America. The significance is proven by the racial or ethnic disparities that are evident in the justice system. The nationwide empirical findings reported that over 50% of the more than 3300 inmates on death row are people of color, with about 42% being African Americans. Bryan Stevenson on TED talk stated that one in every three 18-30-year-old adult males are either in prison, jail, probation, or parole (TED, 2012). These are just some of the facts that show that the criminal justice system in the US is significantly affected by race or ethnicity.
The justice system is seen to favor the whites and rich as the poor and the people of color, mainly the African Americans bearing the burden of the ethnic injustice in the justice system. One of the main disparities is found in the juries. Wiley-Blackwell (2008) reported that across the nation, the juries do not have enough African American jurors despite the significant population of African Americans. The juries fail to represent the nation’s racial demographics, and this means that the non-diversity in juries result in biasness in decision-making. Racially mixed jurors deliberate more, thus eliminating bias in decision-making (Banerji, 2006). The racial disparities in juries thus show the significance of ethnicity in the criminal justice system.
The racial or ethnic significance in criminal justice is also witnessed by the disparities in prison, parole, probation, and jail populations. The United States has the highest incarceration rate, with 2.3 million in jails and prisons and a further 7 million in probation or parole. African Americans make up 39.4% of this population with 50%-60% of all men of color in largest US cities having being incarcerated (TED, 2012). This extends to the juvenile system where the youth of color are more likely to be treated harshly compared to their white peers (Silverstein, 2013). Overall, the disparities in the incarcerated population, both adult and juvenile indicate the significance of race in the criminal justice system.
While these statistics show the significance of race and ethnicity in the criminal justice system, it is essential to focus on statistics regarding the people of color and white Americans that are found guilty. Moreover, the statistics can focus on arrests considering that more people of color are arrested in the US compared to White Americans.
References
Banerji, S. (October 8, 2006). Racially Mixed Juries Deliberate More. Diverse.
Silverstein, J. (June 27, 2013). I Don’t Feel Your Pain. Slate.com. Retrieved from https://slate.com/technology/2013/06/racial-empathy-gap-people-dont-perceive-pain-in- other-races.html
TED. (March 5, 2012). We need to talk about an injustice | Bryan Stevenson. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2tOp7OxyQ8
Wiley-Blackwell. (December 3, 2008). Juries Not As Racially Diverse As The Communities From Which They Are Drawn, Study Finds. ScienceDaily.