African Americans And The Juvenile Justice System

Race and Sentencing It has been brought up that certain race and ethic affects a person’s sentencing. Many studies have addressed the question are African Americans treated more severely than similarly situated whites? (Mitchell, 2005). Observers had indeed noted that black defendants get more severe sentencing than white defendants do (Spohn, 1981). For many years’ social scientist has examined this theory and came up with three explanations, racial discrimination, Wealth discrimination, and legal factors (Sellin, 1928). These three explanations all direct back to blacks because blacks are more likely to be poor, so they are wealth discriminated. Also, legal factors point to blacks because black defendants are more likely to have a serious charge or criminal record than whites do. Some researchers examine whether race has an impact on juveniles being convicted in the adult system (Howell, 2012) as well. Research has shown that sentencing is different between African Americans and Caucasians in many ways. First we will identify the two types of justice systems. There is the juvenile justice system, that was to be an alternative for juveniles and the punishments that the criminal justice system utilized (John Wiley, 2012). The thought behind the Juvenile system was the thought of rebuilding and restructure to rehabilitate the prisoner. The criminal justice system is set to punish those who know right from wrong for crimes they have committed. The correctional facilityShow MoreRelatedMinority Minorities And The Juvenile Justice System900 Words   |  4 PagesDisproportionate Minority Contact Minority children are exposed to the juvenile justice system at a higher percentage than their white peers. Minority children are over represented at every level of the judicial process. Minority children are more likely to be charged, detained, and confined. 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