Differential treatment
Systematic differential treatment of minority group offenders who include Hispanic Americans, African American and other s starts at the initial phase of criminal justice system and continues in the entire system. The various ways in which such treatment is manifested includes investigation, police arrest and trials at the courts. The racial profiling in police arrest is manifested in various ways. Research has shown that minority groups are likely to be arrested by law enforcement officers on the basis of their race which leads to more of them being detained than their white counterparts. The various stops by officers lead to humiliation, inconvenience and even loss of one’s privacy which is heightened when police embrace color as their rationale for action (Griffin, Sloan & Eldred, 2014). Secondly, the differential treatment can be seen when police are carrying out some interrogations and investigation where they may employ some harsh tactics while dealing with minority offenders. The use of methods such as Stop and Frisk have worsened the situation , where in their investigations the law enforcement officers will stop the ethnic minority pedestrians or motorist on the basis of their color in order to perform a search, while leaving out their white counterparts(Griffin, Sloan & Eldred, 2014). The third way in which differential treatment is seen is in the trial stage of criminal justice system. In this case, there is disparate implementation of justice during the trial, deliberation by a jury and even sentencing. This means that minority offenders are more likely to be incarcerated and the sentences imposed on them are likely to longer. In fact, research has shown that Latino and Black offenders are at greater odds of being imprisoned than white offenders in various jurisdictions (Griffin, Sloan & Eldred, 2014).
There are various impacts of such differential treatments on the offenders and the chief among them involve income and employment. A criminal record considerably reduces the chances that the offender will be retained by an employer and this impact is more common for the people from the minority groups. This means that these individuals are likely to remain unemployed since their prospects are reduced by the criminal record. In addition, the impacts of imprisonment are magnified more among the vulnerable groups since they place limitations on their wage-earning capacity which makes collateral damage even higher (Schuck, Martin, & Glaser, 2012). The effects on the juvenile offenders are also pronounced since failure to separated children offenders from the adult offenders is likely to lead to incubation of another generation of minority ethnic group offenders. Moreover, the feeling among these offenders that they are being targeted and discriminated against can lead to anger and aggressiveness especially towards the criminal justice system and eventually leading to more offenses as individuals react to the system (Schuck, Martin, & Glaser, 2012).
The impacts of differential treatment of minority ethnic group offenders go beyond the person who is punished or imprisoned. Various formidable costs that families of the offenders will have to bare can be huge. There is loss of income and other benefits related to employment, increased strain on parenting and even emotional toll in the family due to the member who is absent. The differential can also lead to social stigma towards the offenders and their family. Evidence in research has also shown that paternal imprisonment presents a great risk to children in terms of mental health and behavioral problems (Schuck, Martin, & Glaser, 2012).
References
Griffin Jr, C. L., Sloan, F. A., & Eldred, L. M. (2014). Corrections for racial disparities in law enforcement. William and Mary law review, 55(4), 1365.
Schuck, P. H., Martin, K. D., & Glaser, J. (2012). POINT: Profiling is a legitimate practice if used correctly. It can be an effective and necessary tool for law enforcement.
