DAY 12: Justice System

What do you think about when you consider our justice system?Is it prisons? Is it police? Is it judges? The justice system is a set of legal institutions for enforcing actions deemed illegal under local, state, and federal criminal laws. The institutions that enforce those laws are the police/sheriff, prosecutor’s offices, courts, prisons, and parole offices.

Did you know? Nationwide, Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to experience lengthy prison sentences. (Source: The Sentencing Project)

Black adults are 5.9 times as likely to be incarcerated as whites, and 1 in 3 Black men are likely to go to prison in their lifetime compared to 1 in 17 white men. (Source: The Sentencing Project)

In Westchester County, Black individuals are 4x as likely to be sentenced to prison following an arrest. Black individuals represent 14% of the population but 59% of prison sentences. (Source: Vera Institute of Justice, NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services) Black adults make up 13 percent of the U.S. adult population, yet they account for 30 percent of those on probation or parole. (Source: The Pew Research Center).

So, is it a systemic issue or a personal issue? Several research studies suggest that the issue is much bigger than the individual. For example, a study by Stanford University analyzed millions of police stops in the top 100 U.S. cities. They found that police stops and searches suffered from “persistent racial bias” and that Black drivers were less likely to be stopped after sunset when a ‘veil of darkness’ masks the color of skin, suggesting bias in police stops. There are several other studies that have analyzed the racial bias and disparities in jury selection, sentencing, the death penalty, school suspensions, etc.

“Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline”

– rethinkingschools.org

“A Better Way: 50+ Action Items to Fight Against Racism In Your Community “
– Joshua V. Barr

The 13th

“School to Prison Pipeline”

– Justice in America podcast

These articles were curated by a local committee to be used as a list of resources pertinent to DEI topics. The 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge Committee would like to thank and give attribution to those who created the content above, which reflects their individual perspectives. We do not support nor endorse any advertisements associated with the above content.

REFLECT...

Use these following prompts to reflect on the information you consumed today:

Close your eyes and envision your ideal community: What does it look like? What do you see? What can you touch? How do you feel? In your vision for an ideal community, did you see prisons? People getting arrested and incarcerated? Armed law enforcement and police?

If not, how can we get our society to the vision that you had?

After reading the 50+ Action Items article, which items, if any, would you select to help make our justice system fair?