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Selling in public obviously can result in an arrest far easier than selling in a dorm, or a bar, or a workplace, as whites tend to do. Police can stop a black man on the street and frisk him without a warrant. And so if African-Americans are far more likely to be selling crack in the open air, and crack sales result in far longer jail sentences than powder cocaine sales, there is at least part of the answer as to why African-Americans serve longer sentences in some cases.
A Washington Post analysis of 79,000 federal sentences between the years 1993 and 1995 (referenced in Jet Magazine) reflects that "Blacks received 2% longer jail terms than whites" nationally, and in the District of Columbia Blacks received sentences that were 12% longer than whites (Jet Magazine).
Meantime, in the publication Sentencing Law and Policy (a participant in the law Professor Blogs Network) the authors reference an opinion column taken from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that alludes to sentencing unfairness. "While the average federal prison sentence for black offenders was about five months longer than for whites in 1984, by 2001, the average sentence for blacks was almost 30 months...
The Sentencing Law and Policy publication asserts that (quoting the Sentencing Commission) "the sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimum statues have a greater adverse impact on black offenders than did the factors taken into account by judges in the discretionary system…"
Works Cited
Contexts. "Black/White Disparities in Prison Sentences." Sociological Images. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from http://contexts.org.
Doege, David. "Drug Sentences Worse For Blacks." Journal Interactive. Wisconsin State
Journal. (2007).
Jet. "Federal Prison Study Reveals That Black Defendants Still Get Longer Sentences.
Vol. 90, No. 24 (1996).
Sentencing Law and Policy. "Racial Disparity and Sentencing Reform." Retrieved
January 29, 2009, from http://sentencing.typepad.com. (2004).
The Sentencing Project. "Crack Cocaine Sentencing Policy: Unjustified and Unreasonable."
(2001).…
Works Cited
Contexts. "Black/White Disparities in Prison Sentences." Sociological Images. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from http://contexts.org.
Doege, David. "Drug Sentences Worse For Blacks." Journal Interactive. Wisconsin State
Journal. (2007).
Jet. "Federal Prison Study Reveals That Black Defendants Still Get Longer Sentences.
January 29, 2009, from http://sentencing.typepad.com. (2004).
(2001). Retrieved January 29, 2009, from http://www.sentencingproject.org.
Overcrowding in Prisons: Impacts on African-Americans The overcrowded prisons in the United States are heavily populated by African-Americans, many of them incarcerated due to petty, non-violent crimes such as drug dealing. This paper points out that not only are today's prisons overcrowded, the fact of their being overcrowded negatively impacts the African-American community above and beyond the individuals who are locked up. This paper also points to the racist-themed legislation that
Three Strikes Law on the African-American Community Three Strikes legislation, which imposes sentencing enhancement on repeat offenders, often culminating with mandatory life sentences for third-time offenders, has gained popularity throughout the United States. The legislation began in California, where two highly publicized murders committed by convicted felons prompted an outcry against allowing recidivists to return to the community. California did see a decrease in crime rates following its institution of
Prison Industrial Complex as Another Form of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing US sentencing policies are still lean which has led to the federal government to incarcerate so many people. There are too many criminals committing too many crimes, and this explains why we have too many prisoners. Currently, the government's prison is holding 200,000-armed robbers, 150,000 sex offenders and 100 murderers (Davis, 2008). These people are enough to make fill a city.
" (Mustard, 2001) I. Drug Sentencing Policy and the New Washington Administration It is stated in the work entitled: "Aspirations and Realism about Drug Sentencing Reform" that disparities in sentencing "continue to plague [the] Criminal Justice System. African-Americans and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as whites to be searched, arrested, or subdued with force when stopped by police. Disparities in drug sentencing laws, like the differential treatment of crack as
Mandatory Sentencing Public policy, crime, and criminal justice Mandatory Sentencing: Case Study Critique The prime grounds of mandatory sentencing laws are utilitarian. The laws come with long prison sentences for recidivists, drug dealers and isolation of violent criminals from the community aiming at preventing them from committing additional crimes outside the prison walls. In addition, the design of mandatory sentencing aim at deterring and portraying a harsh reflection to potential offenders of the
criminal justice and American culture. Specifically it will discuss jail time served by Blacks, Hispanics and whites, and the lawyers who prosecute them. The statistics indicate that African-American men, especially between the ages of 25 to 29, are incarcerated at a higher rate than either Hispanics or whites. There are several factors that are associated with these statistics, including where these young men grow up, their income, and their