Racial Minorities’ Perception on Racism
in the US Criminal Justice System
INTRODUCTION
This paper discusses in detail the research proposal on racist acts within the United States’ criminal justice system. Specifically, the research will focus on how race affects the sentencing process of criminal justice. In this research proposal, the problem, context and theme of the study are presented; the objectives of the study and the research statements are formulated. Here, vital concepts, questions and assumptions are stated. The proposal also provides a brief review of literature related to the topic. Finally, the scope and limitation of the study, methodology to be used and the significance of the research are discussed.
Racism was once blatant in the US. Slavery, lynching and the slaughter of Native Americans were all highly visible manifestations of racism committed with the sanction or even active participation of the authorities. Although overt manifestations of racism today would be unacceptable to the majority of US citizens, the country is still struggling with ongoing racial and ethnic divisions. Major steps taken over the past 50 years to end institutionalized racism have not eliminated the inequalities which many members of racial minorities continue to face in daily life.
The impetus for undertaking this study stems from the author’s belief that racism is still blatant in the US, especially in the criminal justice system. The author has observed and gathered data pertaining to racist sentencing process. Thus, the author finds it necessary to examine and investigate how racism affects the sentencing process of criminal justice.
Purpose of the Study
Generally, the purpose of the research is to conduct a descriptive study on the biased processes within the US criminal justice system, specifically on sentencing. Specifically, the study will attempt to determine the perception of racial minorities on the US justice system in terms of biased sentencing. The proposed study will furnish discussions made by other authors regarding racism in American criminal justice system. The predominant contention of the authors in the literature has been fundamentally inclined negatively towards the system; that racism is still blatant in the US.
Statement of the Problem
The focus of this problem statement is to analyze the sentencing process of the US criminal justice. Literature shows that it is biased against black people and other racial minorities. For the purpose of this study, the researcher shall test the validity of the null hypothesis, “Racial minorities, especially black people, feel that the police and the courts favor white people and are biased against them.”
Objectives of the Study
The general objectives of this study are:
1. To examine the US criminal justice system in relation to racism.
2. To identify the factors that affect the sentencing of racial minorities.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Perception on Inequality
The black-white divide on racial matters is one of the most profound and enduring in American society. For decades, public opinion polls have shown that blacks and whites differ fundamentally as to what constitutes the race problem, how severe it is, and what to do about it. Thus Sigelman and Susan Welch (1991) write: “It is hardly an overstatement to say that blacks and whites inhabit two different perceptual worlds” (65). And Bositis (1997), summarizing the findings of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies 1997 National Opinion Poll, goes so far as to speak of a “white reality” versus a “black reality.” Kim (2002) argues that blacks and whites are not diametrically opposed on all race-related issues, and each community of opinion is far from internally monolithic.
Blacks and whites disagree about whether or not blacks currently enjoy equality of opportunity or equal treatment with whites in local communities. The result of the 1997 Gallup Poll shows that whites are much more likely than blacks to think that blacks enjoy equality of opportunity in every one of these areas of life (Gallup News Service, 2000). For nearly forty years, a large majority of whites has believed that blacks receive equal treatment with whites in their local communities, while a large majority of blacks has disagreed (Ludwig, 2000).
Relatedly, blacks and whites disagree about whether or not racial discrimination persists, to what extent, and to what effect (Kim, 2002). According to the 1997 Joint Center poll, a large majority of whites (76 percent) and blacks (92 percent) said they believed that discrimination against blacks remains common today (Fletcher & Balz, 1997). However, this agreement broke down somewhat regarding the extent of current discrimination, with 49 percent of blacks and 21 percent of whites saying they thought there was “a lot” of discrimination, and 50 percent of blacks and 76 percent of whites saying they thought there was only “some” discrimination (Fletcher & Balz, 1997). According to Kim (2002), it makes sense that blacks who deny that they have equality of opportunity with whites also perceive a high level of discrimination.
Racism in the US Criminal Justice System
Racism within the justice system has been a prominent issue in American criminology for several decades. Many scholars have used both qualitative and quantitative data to document that the American criminal justice system is biased against black people and other racial minorities (Mann 1993; Georges-Abeyie 1984; McNeely and Pope 1981). However, other researchers maintain that the empirical evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the American criminal justice system does not systematically discriminate against the members of racial minority groups (Willbanks 1990; Willbanks 1987; Kleck 1985; Sowell 1984).
While the debate continues to rage over the empirical evidence concerning racism in the American criminal justice system, the results regarding public perceptions of injustice are quite clear. In general, a large proportion of the racial minority population believe that the police and the courts discriminate against racial minorities, while most white Americans reject this charge. Indeed, several large American surveys have documented that racial minorities, especially black people, feel that the police and the courts favor white people and are biased against them (Hagan and Albonetti 1982; Meislin 1988; Kaplan 1988; New York State Judicial Commission 1991; California Judicial Council 1994).
Therefore, as suggested by the review of the literature, there is a current need in the literature to address the issue of racism in the US criminal justice system while relying on the determining how racial minorities perceive the process in the system. Thus, the proposed study, will attempt to address this current need in the literature.
METHODOLOGY
Research Approach
For this study, descriptive research method will be utilized. In this method, it is possible that the study will be cheap and quick. It can also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, this method will be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, Creswell (1994) states that the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition.
The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher opts to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
To come up with pertinent findings and to provide credible recommendations, this study utilizes two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data will obtained through this new research study. Questionnaire survey and in-depth interview will be conducted. On the other hand, the secondary research data will be obtained from previous studies on the same topic.
This research will base its findings fundamentally through qualitative research method because it intends to find and build theories that will explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. Through this method, qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs within the US criminal justice system.
Furthermore qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.
Data Collection Method
For this research design, the researcher will gather data, collate published studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from books and journals; and will make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material. Afterwards, the researcher will summarize all the information, make a conclusion based on the hypotheses posited and provide insightful recommendations on employee training.
For this study, a survey and interview will be conducted. The process will include identifying the general population for the survey, designing of the instrument (survey-questionnaire) and validation of the instrument. After the validation, the researcher will present the instrument to the supervisor for approval, before administering the instrument. Finally, with the help of a statistician, the researcher will make the statistical analysis. After gathering the results, a preliminary analysis of the results of the survey and interview will be conducted. Then the supervisor will check the preliminary analysis. Afterwards, I will conduct detailed analysis of the results.
Subject of Study
The general population for this study will be composed of racial minorities (African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians). The researcher will make sure that the sample will be representative of the population. Due to the lack of time and resources, this study finds it unlikely to have a sample that is representative to all racial minorities in the US. Thus, the study will limit its population to racial minorities in New York City. The sample for this study will include 350 racial minorities in the same city. New York City was chosen because of it has a great concentration of racial minorities. The samples will be chosen through random sampling. As the study will tackle a sensitive topic, the researcher will ensure that the information that will be given by the subjects will be regarded with high confidentiality.
Measurements
The data collection instrument will be a structured questionnaire that would be based on Likert scale. A Likert Scale is a rating scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or disagreement with a statement. By rating scale we mean the scales that are usually used to measure attitudes towards an object, the degree to which an object contains a particular attribute, (Like or dislike), toward some attribute, or the importance attached to an attribute. The equivalent weights for the answers would be:
Range Interpretation
4.50 – 5.00 Strongly Agree
3.50 – 4.00 Agree
2.50 – 3.49 Uncertain
1.50 – 2.49 Disagree
0.00 – 1.49 Strongly Disagree
The use of the questionnaire would provide the project owner the ability to test the views and attitudes of the respondents. The distribution and collation methods used to manage the questionnaire process would ensure anonymity.
For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires for approval; the survey will be initially conducted to five respondents. After the questions are answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument. The researcher will again examine the content of the survey questions/statements to find out the reliability of the instrument. Afterwards, the researchers will exclude irrelevant questions and changed words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, to much simpler terms.
The researcher will exclude the five respondents who will be initially used for the validation of the instrument. The researcher will then tally, score and tabulate all the responses in the provided questionnaire.
For the interview part, open-ended questions will be used to obtain as much information as possible about how the interviewee feels about the research topic. Interviews took a maximum of 30 minutes. The questions that will be used during the interview will be based on the research questions for this project. The researcher will make sure that they will be reviewed, refined and approved by the project supervisor. The researcher will design a semi-structured interview. Here, the researcher will encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements and to further elaborate on brief comments. The interviewer will not share his own beliefs and opinions.
Design/Analysis
When the entire survey questionnaires are collected, the researcher will use statistics to analyse all the data. The researcher will be assisted by the SPSS in coming up with the statistical analysis for this study.
The findings of the study may affect the current body of knowledge, as there are very few studies that are dealing with racial minorities’ perception on racism in the US criminal justice system. The researcher is hopeful that this study will potentially affect policies in the system.
References
Bositis, D. (2000) Summary of Findings, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies 1997 National Opinion Poll–Race Relations Available at [http://www.jointctr.org/selpaper/poll_ra.htm]. Accessed 19/11/03].
California Judicial Council (1994) Fairness in the California State Courts. In “A Survey of the Public, Attorney and Court Personnel”. Advisory Committee on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts.
Fletcher, M. and Balz, D. (1997) Race Relations Initiative May Post Risks for Clinton, Washington Post, 12 June.
Gallup News Service, Social Audit (2000) Black/White Relations in the U.S. Available at [http://www.gallup.com/poll/socialaudits/sa970610.asp]. Accessed [19/11/03].
Georges-Abeyie, D. (1984) The Criminal Justice System and Blacks. New York: Clark Broardman.
Hagan, J. and Albonetti, C. (1982) Race, class, and the perception of criminal injustice in America. American Journal of Sociology.
Kaplan, L. (1988) Brawley charges fictitious? Law journal poll in city on criminal justice system. New York Law Journal May 24: 1-4.
Kim, C. J. (2002) Managing the racial breach: Clinton, black-white polarization, and the race initiative. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 117.
Kleck, G. (1985) Life support for ailing hypotheses: Modes of summarizing the evidence for racial discrimination in sentencing. Law and Human Behaviour 9(3):271-258.
Ludwig, J. (2000) Perceptions of Black and White Americans Continue to Diverge Widely on Issues of Race Relations in the U.S. Gallup News Service, Poll Releases. Available at [http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr000228.asp]. Acessed [19/11/03].
Mann, C. R. (1993) Unequal Justice: A Question of Color. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
McNeely, R. and Pope, C. E (1981) Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
Meislin, J. (1988) New Yorkers say race relations have worsened in the last year. New York Times. January 19:A1.
New York State Judicial Commission (1991) The Public and the Courts: Volume Two. New York City: New York State Judicial Commission on Minorities.
Sigelman, L and Welch, S. (1991) Black Americans’ Views of Racial Inequality: The Dream Deferred. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 65.
Willbanks, W. (1987) The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Inc.
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