Black American Justice System

Despite the black codes had provided rights such as the marriage legalization and the ownership of property, they violated the free labor principle and denied the African-Americans the right to vote, and sue any white man. Foner (2014) found “In response to planter’s demands that freed people be required to work on the plantations, the Black Codes declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners” (p. 570) . In fact, it was a totally failure of what freedom was supposed to be.

The criminal justice system in the United States is evident of several deep flaws relating to the treatment of black men and women accused of committing criminal offenses. It is logical to believe that due to the U.S.’s rather dark past surrounding the treatment of black Americans, systematic racism is included under the guise of the criminal justice system. The U.S. is historically infamous for it’s open racial discrimination against black Americans, up until systematic racism became one of the more dominant forms of discrimination in the most recent years. Systematic racism has been shrouded under societal ignorance and regulated particularly by social and political groups in order to keep the human rights of black Americans frigid and

Many people believe that Whites are treated better than minorities. I agree with this opinion, however; I believe that the justice system favors Whites more than African-Americans. Throughout history it shows that the criminal justice system was never in place to serve and protect every human being. When slavery was legal the criminal justice system created laws to enslave human beings. It is not a surprise that the justice system does not work in favor with African-Americans because it has never worked in our favor. The legal system only benefits those of White people.

African American males are overrepresented in the criminal justice and many times are subject to harsher sentences than their Caucasian counterparts. African American males also experience racial profiling and have more negative interactions than any other population in the United States. Ibie, Obie, and Obiyan states, “African Americans have continued to be the repository for American crime and to be treated as amalgamation of presumed group trait rather than as individuals”. This topic is important because African American adolescents are less likely to be referred to rehabilitation or diversion programs and more likely to be sent to juvenile and/or prison. History has not been kind to African Americans and the injustices experienced by African Americans in the criminal justice system is extremely high. According to Weatherspoon, “The Supreme Court condoned and perpetuated many of the present day stereotypical biases concerning African Americans in the landmark decision of Dred Scott v. Sanford”. Over that past few years, with the advent of social media, the world is becoming more aware of the injustices and brutality suffered by African American males in the justice system. Many view this as a new phenomenon, but others know this abuse has always occurred, it is just now there are cameras taping the violence. Many people are waking up to what is occurring, but there are many others who are denial and who refuse to acknowledge the oppression and racism

In the same way, the issue of racism was more opposed to people and was more openly abused in the past compare to present. African Americans were mistreated, and were slaved for a long time, and they did not have any rights until the 18th century. In 1865 and 1866 Southern states passed a laws called "black codes" which was meant to limit the rights of black and segregate them from whites; however, during the 1865 African American believed that the process of reconstruction would bring equality. The main object of reconstruction was to help African Americans become equal citizens, but reconstruction failed to help them, because the Southerners were not willing to accept the laws that were placed to give rights to the African Americans.

All societal groups are affected by the issue of imprisonment, but it is a far more likely occurrence among marginalized cultural groups, particularly African Americans. As the United States celebrates the nation's triumph over race with the selection of Barack Obama as the first African American male president, a majority of young black males in major American cities are locked behind bars, or categorized felons for life (Alexander, 2010, p. 1). Bonczar and Beck (1997) report that:

The mass incarceration of African American men and women during the 80's affected many families economically preventing many black own businesses from prospering. Even prior to the mass incarceration of blacks in the 80’s and 90’s at the time of reconstruction, there were Black Codes, a system created in the south to combat the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment. The 13th amendment plays a huge role of the mass incarceration over the years. It states

Frederick Douglas spoke about these problems in 1876. He talked about how slaves were freed and left to live on their own - without land - and lead to face “the wrath of our infuriated masters”, referencing the many attacks against the freed people. Soon after the Civil War, laws known as the “Black Codes” were enforced. These laws prevented African-Americans from renting or keeping a house, holding public meetings, as well as carrying a weapon. These laws showcased the unfair hatred that Southerners directed towards newly freed men and women, similarly to the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws divided our country and as opposed to separating north and south, they parted the south between blacks and whites. This action was an enormous step back in our country’s fight for equality. If you were an African-American, you could not eat, go to the bathroom, or go to school in the same place as a white person. These actions and more were deemed against the law and lead to fines. After finally being considered free, rather than being accepted into society, African-Americans were sadly still seen as lesser than white people in America, and lost many rights as a

Within African American communities, individuals with low incomes or low education levels are at increased risk of incarceration due to less options for legal employment and little resources to successfully navigate the legal system (Crutchfield and Weeks, 2015; Mtichell & Caudy, 2015; Pettit & Western, 2004). Although the incarceration of black people is an international issue (Warde, 2013) which affects both men and women (Christian & Thomas, 2009), the substantial size of the African American male incarcerated population within the United States suggest that this a

African-Americans are more likely than others to have social histories that include poverty, exposure to neighborhood violence, and exposure to crime-prone role models. For example, African-American children with no prior admissions to the juvenile justice system were six times more likely to be incarcerated in a public facility than white children with the same background that were charged with the same offense. A major study sponsored by the Department of Justice in the early 1980s noted that juvenile justice system processing appears to be counterproductive, placing minority children at a disproportionately greater risk of subsequent incarceration (Deadly Statistics: A Survey of Crime and Punishment, 2000). This writer?s grandmother retired after more than thirty years as a welfare social worker for Los Angeles County. She has stated on more than occasion that the government is the main reason that most black men are in jail awaiting the death penalty today. In the sixties and early seventies, she says that women on welfare were not allowed to have men in the home, even the father of the children. These fatherless generations of men seem more prone to crime,

If we go through each term of The Black Codes, we can see the law almost prevented freedom of black people (who they were call “negro”). The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 of President Lincoln granted slave with some rights, but actually these rights were very limited. For instance, section 2 states every nergo was not allowed to be outside of their house after 10pm or they would receive a fine. Section 3 states slaves were not allowed owning

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander, 2012). The numbers tell the story better than words can: black people are more likely to go to prison than any other race in the United States, shown by the fact that more than 60% of the prison population is composed of people of color (The Sentencing Project, 2016). These statistics can be traced back to several different cause, including the Era of Jim Crow and the War on Drugs, both of which led to higher policing in minority areas.

This paper will provide a closer look on two of these specific issues, poverty and the changing family structure (i.e. the absence of fathers) of black families in households. These topics are two of the major influences on African American families today and usually go hand in hand. Children and adults living in single parent households are significantly more likely to live in poverty than those living in two-parent households (Hattery and Smith, 2007). One person doesn’t suffer from poverty or crime alone. Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, victims and friends all become involved one way or the other. A chain reaction starts to occur and the families get pulled into the situation whether they want to or not and end up paying the price as well.

However, other laws and regulations such as black codes, which controlled and restricted the activity of freemen and showed clear discrimination towards them, and Jim Crow laws, which segregated black men from whites, regulated these new found rights and made it clear that the white man was still dominant. African Americans would have to fight for hundreds of years before they could be treated equally to a white man.

Due to recent events, black history has been frequently discussed. For many African Americans, the racial tensions being exemplified today bring back painful memories in the history of black people. An enormous fraction of black history involves the subject of bondage and freedom the African slaves experienced. Understanding how far the African American people have come is important in comprehending the feelings