This has resulted in longer incarcerations within correctional facilities and institutions across the country for African American offenders. While a plethora of information is available to support this, the U.S. Department of Justice has set out the facts and figures clearly for any individual to see; African Americans are being sentenced in a disproportionate manner within the criminal justice system and the statistics support such.
The Reasoning Surrounding the Disproportionate Sentences of
African American Offenders After Committing Specific Crimes Within Society
It is apparent within modern society that a severe and subtle issue, which has been ignored for decades, should now be brought to light and addressed. The matter is simple, yet so very complicated in context and solution. It postures itself by and through the support of government demographics and statistical data, showing a disproportionate trend in the sentencing terms of African Americans, who have committed specific criminal offenses, to be more severe than those of all other races. This disproportionate abomination of the law has also fueled, the already exacerbated, racial and ethnic disparities within the African American community. To determine an answer for this unjust trend requires a detailed answer to the fundamental question; what are the origins of this disproportionate sentencing system?
One might say that it began with the institution of a variety of governmental policies which required mandatory minimum sentencing for certain criminal offenses. However, that would be untrue. The disproportionate sentencing of African Americans began when American policymakers when they perceived African Americans to be a threat to the current society norms. In response, they initiated an enthusiastic uproar over crimes typically committed by the African American race, as opposed to any other race, by instituting the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. As a result, low-level offenders were, and still are targeted and are forced to serve severe terms of incarceration, rather than having their sentences tailored by judicial discretion. (Mauer, 2007). Offenses like violations of the federal crack cocaine laws and school-zone drug laws have targeted the African Americans within the United States. Even more appalling is the fact that African American men are sentenced to an average of 256months in prison for murder, while whites are typically sentenced to an average of 232months. (Durose, 2007).
However, policy initiatives similar to mandatory minimums have done little more than accomplish these disproportionate rates in sentencing standards for criminal offenses by African Americans throughout the country. Even with the distinct rise in the number of arrests by law enforcement, it does not come does without a cost to the communities and families of the incarcerated. All to long, the American judiciary has held mandatory minimum sentencing to be the premium standard in the sentencing of criminal offenders, but one must ask themselves why? When African Americans are being sentenced to 87 months in prison as opposed to other races being sentenced to 73 months and when African Americans are sentenced to a term of 68 months probation for murder while other races are sentenced to 55 months one must question the true veracity of such a program. (Durose, 2007).
Furthermore, while on the subject of statistics it is more than noteworthy to point out many of the disproportionate rate in sentencing. The United State Justice Department has set out numerous facts and figures to support the disproportionate rates in the aforementioned paragraphs through its Bureau of Justice Statistics. This bureau compiles data from state courts across the country and graphs it out for informational purposes. Within this compilation is a graph titled “Mean Length of Felony Sentences Imposed in State Courts, By Offense and Combined Categories of Race and Gender, 2004.” This table displays some of the following data: African American men are generally sentenced to 114 months in prison for the crime of robbery while white men are sentenced to term of only 103 months. Meanwhile, as African American women are sentenced to 104 months in prison, white women are sentenced to a disproportionate term of 66 months for the same offense, robbery. This is a markedly 37 percent difference and a travesty at best. (Durose, 2007).
Finally, one may gather that there is reason to keep a close eye on the issue of African Americans being sentenced to disproportionate terms within our nation's prison systems. Calling this ongoing happening, a travesty should be considered an understatement when the apparent consequence is African American communities losing faith in our judicial system. All across the country African American men and women are being sentenced to excruciatingly high sentences while everyone else is getting less than what they deserve. Why, one may ask. The answer is this; because policymakers have taken upon themselves to deem all crimes typically committed by African Americans to be more severe than the rest. That leaves this country, disproportionate judicial system of hate rather than a race-neutral system of justice. In Washington, D.C. the United States Supreme Court building reads for all to see, “Equal Justice Under Law.” Getting back to basics is the key to solving this problem. American judicial sentencing policies must be revisited, and improved, in order to make this country stand on equal ground. It is time to fight the good fight and give all offenders the true, proportionate sentences they deserve.
