Dear President,

Along with the many issues seen in today’s world, racial discrimination is a massive conflict which easily occurs everyday. A subtopic to this genre of problems specifically would be racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. This dispute is normally against Whites versus the minority of America, such as African American and Latinos, which has recently been making many headlines on the news. Because it happens so often, we as the citizens who are not affected by this issue have not done anything to change the system. This shows that we have continued to sit back and ignore the fact that Blacks and Latinos especially, are mistreated by the government’s criminal justice system.

A recent study was conducted in which 58,000 of the same federal crimes committed by both Blacks and Whites, almost 60 percent of African Americans arrested were given longer sentences than Whites (AllGov). For an average serving time in the U.S., Whites received only 38 months while the average serving time for Blacks given for the same crime was 60 months. Though both races committed the same crime, there was a clear difference between the two serving times, almost a twenty-two month contrast for the times. This is heavily due to racial discrimination in our justice system.

A similar case has been discovered in which race is often held against the individual for their crimes. If a criminal, every person is given a chance to be released from detention, which is also called a probation. It has been showed in that Blacks have had more probations revoked, but when questioned for reasoning, its reasons “could not be explained by non racial characteristics” (Kahn, Andrew and Chris Kirk). Race of the criminal is often taken in account for the determination of the punishment. Race should not be acknowledged during the evaluation of one’s crime as it is something we can never change, but can be severely impacted by in today’s world. It is an issue which happens daily, but is easily looked upon.

It’s not only Blacks who are affected by this major dilemma; Latinos have been mistreated by our system as well. Though the same crimes and action were committed, minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos, have been mistreated by our country’s criminal justice system. This is an issue which needs to be stopped and taken into care immediately. For Latinos, 1 out of 6 are thrown into prison, while only 1 in 17 Whites end up in prison for their crimes. For women, 1 in 45 Latina women will end up in prison. On the other hand, only 1 in 111 White women end up in jail (Hagler, Jamal).

Recently, North Carolina has passed a bill against discrimination in the workplace for employees. Before, employees could have sued for experiencing racial discrimination against their employers, but our state has now taken this away. This removes the "citizens' private right of action" (Salchert, Ryan). Because of this, many employees can feel almost threatened and have no way to protect themselves anymore because of the recent law added. This needs to be changed and cases of racial discrimination, such as these, need to be brought to light and changed.

In conclusion, minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos have been victim to our country’s criminal justice system. Race has been a definite part of the determination of one’s punishment. Depending on your race, you could be forced to serve time much longer than others. This is a serious issue, as about 96,177,594 million Latinos and African American live in the U.S.(FEN Learning and United States Census). As this problem continues to grow, more and more people become victim to our country’s criminal justice system, wrongly being misjudged only by the color of their skin. This needs to be taken seriously and changed by the time our next president starts their new term.

Sincerely,

A.D (Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy)

Works Cited

AllGov.com. “Black Americans Given Longer Sentences than White Americans for Same Crime.” AllGov, 2 Feb. 2012, www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/black-americans-given-longer-sentences-than-white-americans-for-same-crimes?news=843984. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.

FEN Learning. “U.S. Hispanic/Latino Population.” infoplease, FEN Learning, Oct. 2015, www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779064.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2016.

Hagler, Jamal. “8 Facts You Should Know About the Criminal Justice System and People of Color.” American Progress, Center for American Progress, 28 May 2015, www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/news/2015/05/28/113436/8-facts-you-should-know-about-the-criminal-justice-system-and-people-of-color/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Kahn, Andrew, and Chris Kirk. “What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System.” Slate, The Slate Group LLC., 9 Aug. 2015, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/08/racial_disparities_in_the_criminal_justice_system_eight_charts_illustrating.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Quigley, Bill. “Fourteen Examples of Racism in Criminal Justice System.” Huffington Post, HPMG News, 26 July 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Salchert, Ryan. “No more discrimination cases in NC courts thanks to HB2.” dailytarheel.com, The State News, 3 Apr. 2016, www.dailytarheel.com/article/2016/04/no-more-discrimination-cases-in-nc-courts-thanks-to-hb2. Accessed 23 Oct. 2016.

United States Census. “FFF: Black (African-American History Month: February 2016.” United States Census Bureau, U.S Department of Commerce, 1 Jan. 2016, www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2016/cb16-ff01.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2016.

Works CitAllGov.com. “Black Americans Given Longer Sentences than White Americans for Same Crime.” AllGov, 2 Feb. 2012, www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/black-americans-given-longer-sentences-than-white-americans-for-same-crimes?news=843984. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.

FEN Learning. “U.S. Hispanic/Latino Population.” infoplease, FEN Learning, Oct. 2015, www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0779064.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2016.

Hagler, Jamal. “8 Facts You Should Know About the Criminal Justice System and People of Color.” American Progress, Center for American Progress, 28 May 2015, www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/news/2015/05/28/113436/8-facts-you-should-know-about-the-criminal-justice-system-and-people-of-color/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Kahn, Andrew, and Chris Kirk. “What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System.” Slate, The Slate Group LLC., 9 Aug. 2015, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/08/racial_disparities_in_the_criminal_justice_system_eight_charts_illustrating.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Quigley, Bill. “Fourteen Examples of Racism in Criminal Justice System.” Huffington Post, HPMG News, 26 July 2010, www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html. Accessed 14 Sept. 2016.

Salchert, Ryan. “No more discrimination cases in NC courts thanks to HB2.” dailytarheel.com, The State News, 3 Apr. 2016, www.dailytarheel.com/article/2016/04/no-more-discrimination-cases-in-nc-courts-thanks-to-hb2. Accessed 23 Oct. 2016.