Prejudice In The Criminal Justice System

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In 2017 there is still a presence of racism and classism and this affects one field that’s supposed to rely on fairness: the American Criminal Justice System. The American Justice system is heavily and unfortunately affected by classism and racism. It has been from the very beginning, and can affect future generations.

Prejudice in the American criminal justice system can be traced back to the beginning. An example would be slavery. To suppress riots and runaways, harsh punishments were carried out and guards were heavily utilized. This resulted in the perpetuation of white superiority and black inferiority--after all that was what slavery relied on. These tactics were used to keep slaves and African Americans in place, to dehumanize them. …show more content…
It wasn’t uncommon for black people to be targeted--assaulted, raped, or killed--for their skin color. However, white people were rarely ever convicted for killing or assaulting an African American. This was outlined in Guy B. Johnson’s Hierarchy of Homicide Seriousness (1941). Guy B. Johnson was a distinguished black culture student and described the observable discrimination of African Americans in homicide. Johnson showed that when an African American was the victim, they were rarely treated as such, and white criminals were rarely treated as criminals. …show more content…
The white population has one thing in common with their Hispanic and African American fellow inmates: poverty. Most inmates report an annual income of $8,000 or unemployment. [2] This stark contrast is the result of higher crime rates in inner cities, and wealthy people’s capability to afford better law teams.

The broken window theory states that dilapidated areas attract more crime. This leads to people leaving their houses less out of fear of running into a criminal. Less people on the streets leads to less perceivable witnesses which leads to even more crime [3]

These numbers explain why we don’t see a lot of wealthy and no varying race populations in prisons. The American Justice System spends $150 billion a year to tamp down and maintain the economic and political status quo, and it’s working. The upper class needs to stay in the upper class and keep the working class where they believe they should belong--below them. [2]

This inequality doesn’t only stop with adults, it also affects adolescents who face conviction and subsequent exoneration. If a teen who lived in an inner city was to be released they are more likely to back to a gang and possibly hurt themselves or others. Compared to a teen who lives in a nicer part of town. To
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