Is The Criminal Justice System Racially Biased?

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as objects of collective
discrimination. Discrimination is the act of singling out for unfair treatment.
Labeling is stereotyping, or putting a tag on someone, and treating them
accordingly. Self-fulling Prophecy is an expectation about how things will be
the situations that they predicted or expected. Finally, Differential
Association is the idea that interacting with others learns criminal behavior.
It is no secret whites and blacks in America experience life differently
because of their race. Therefore, whites and blacks view the criminal justice
system differently. My research found 70% of those studied agree the courts do
not offer equal treatment. Although both agree that the system is biased,
whites seem to have a more positive view about the whole system, while Blacks
feel the system is corrupt and works' against them. 50% of my non-white sample
and 20% of my white sample felt the courts discriminate. James Henslin, author
of the text Social Problems, states "[Violent ...

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and how you live decide who you are,
and contribute to labelling. Obviously, blacks have a lower SES and fall
victim to a self-fulfilling prophecy and labels. The problem arises when "the
Criminal Justice System discriminates against these groups of citizens" (Henslin
182).
In William Chambliss' study of "Saints and Roughnecks" he proved that
social class does matter. People and police in the local community labelled the
lower class kids as worst than the upper-class kids based on their parents' SES
(Henslin 190). The police also believed this label. They proved discrimination
against the "roughnecks" because they had the discretion to harass and arrest
whoever they ...

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