Week 5, Entry 2: Minorities commit the majority of crimes?

Minorities commit the majority of crimes. Therefore they are the majority in jail/prison. This is essentially the argument of some when asked to explain the very disproportionate number of minorities incarcerated in the United States. Not only does such thinking indicative of racism, it indicates a real intellectual laziness. Such simple explanations will only satisfy the stupid and the bigoted, such as white supremacists. For the rest of us, it is apparent that there are issues that must be confronted if we truly seek justice in our justice system.

As I’ve discussed in previous posts, justice often goes to those who pay. Those who cannot afford an attorney and must rely on public defenders or court-appointed attorneys often receive harsher punishments. They are also more likely to plea bargain, sometimes even entering guilty pleas for crimes that they didn’t commit. Because black and Hispanic minorities have overall lower educational attainment and higher rates of poverty, they account for a large percentage of those receiving less than the best possible defense when accused of a crime.

While there is little doubt that increasing educational attainment would decrease the poverty rate to some extent, there has been and continues to be racism within the justice system. While the Civil Rights movement and The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made progress towards racial equality, there is still much work to be done. Racial profiling still exists, and the disparities in sentencing and the death penalty prove that justice is not truly blind. It is clear that the solution to these problems will have to be multi-faceted. We must confront racism in our society effectively, find ways to increase education among minorities and alleviate poverty if we really want justice to be blind.

While defeating racism, reducing poverty and getting people to increase their educational attainment are lofty goals, even some progress on these fronts could have a positive impact. We must also change the way the War on Drugs is prosecuted in this country, which I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s post. While I doubt we’ll ever live in a colorblind society, we should not rest until at the very minimum our criminal justice system is one in which all Americans are equal under the law.