Trevor Noah discusses the struggle of race in South African society throughout the entire book. One problem in particular is the practice of racial profiling; specifically within the justice system. Based on nothing but skin color, penalties for crimes can range from a ticket to years in prison. Noah experiences this first hand after he is thrown in jail on carjacking charges, which he received after getting pulled over for being colored. A few days later he is joined by an enormous black man who was brought in for shoplifting Playstation games. As Trevor is taken to his hearing, the bias of his country’s justice system becomes clear. Even though stealing video games was a much lesser crime than driving with unregistered plates, the man will probably go to prison for forty years as Trevor walks free (Noah 238). This only as a result of the social outlook and economic…show more content… The juvenile justice system in America is extremely biased when it comes to people of color. This causes a huge imbalance in who gets punished as well as greater repercussions for smaller crimes: just like in South Africa. The clearest example of this can be seen when there are no previous criminal records. When teens have not had any past criminal offenses, blacks are six times more likely to receive a prison sentence (Price 6.1). The likelihood of arrest for colored teens increases in accordance with different crimes, however as a generalization this is still unacceptable. Even in regards to punishments, teens of color are subjected to an average of eighty-seven more days in prison that whites when incarcerated for violent crime (Price 6.4). That is nearly three months of extra jail time for nothing but the color of their skin. With all of these injustices in America’s youth justice system, it is clear that South Africa is not the only country suffering from racist legal
