The authors also argue that the lack of black political representations is not helping the cause and that the "three strikes you're out" rule is designed to punish repeat offenders and reward police officers and citizens who feel that blacks are inherently more criminal (Healey and O'Brien, 2007, pp. 207). When one segment of a society is labeled as "criminal," and even blacks begin to hate other blacks and assume their guilt, the entire system is unbalanced and unfair. It is impossible to assume that no racial bias or favoritism is present when the number of blacks in prison or jail is so disproportionately high, especially when one considers that there are also disproportionately high numbers of blacks in jail or prison for violent crimes. The fact that the majority of those who are exonerated by DNA evidence are blacks serving time for violent crimes can be viewed from two different perspectives. Some argue that the high numbers of blacks in the prison system is a result of cultural and socioeconomic conditions while others argue that it is caused by an inherently racist or biased justice system. The likely answer to this question lies somewhere in the...

While there does exist evidence to show that the justice system is racist in many ways, more so in some areas of the country than others, the fact that socioeconomic conditions are present that put blacks in prison than any other ethnicity cannot be ignored. These explanations, when combined together, go a long way in explaining why so many of the DNA exonerations occur in the black population.
Works Cited

Blumstein, Alfred. (2009). "Race and the Criminal Justice System." Race and Social Problems Vol. 1, 4, December, 2009.

Gross, Samuel R.; Jacoby, Kristen; Matheson, Daniel J.; Montgomery, Nicholas; Patil, Sujata. (2005). "Exonerations in the United States 1989 through 2003" Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 95, 2005.

Harris, Casey T.; Steffensmeier, Darrell; Ulmer, Jeffery T.; Painter-Davis, Noah. (2009). "Are Blacks and Hispanics Disproportionately Incarcerated Relative to Their Arrests? Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality Between Arrest and Incarceration." Race and Social Problems, Vol. 1, 4, December, 2009.

Harrison, Paige M.; Beck, Allen J.: Ph.D. (2006). "Prison and Jail…