The Effects of Crime and Punishment on the African American Community



Table of Contents

Introduction3

Overview4

Focus5

Literature Review6

Discussion10

Summary and Conclusion12

References15

The Effects of Crime and Punishment on the African American Community

Introduction

United States of America is the only place in the whole globe where the presence of racism is in larger repugnance. If we compare different sorts of offenses, it would be revealed to us that, in United States these offenses are more reprehensible. In the societies of United States of America, the offences of killing, arson, robbery and rape are so common that the public and media portray these stories almost every day but the most significant phenomenon that is shrugged off as part and parcel of the inescapable texture of the life of America. Racism is the phenomenon that is never shrugged off. Racism is crime is also a major factor for the African Americans. Organized crime is a complex pattern of illegal activity that includes the gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, narcotics trafficking and different types of planned and coordinated acts of fraud, theft and extortion. Organized crime uses the techniques and organizational structure of legitimate business to facilitate its illegal activities. Thus, an organized crime organization will manage financial resources and labor to maximize profit. Because organized crime is tightly controlled and secretive, it is difficult for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute (Coleman, 2006). This discrimination has also resulted in making up of criminal gangs that comprise of those individuals who are fed up of the discrimination against them. The purpose of this paper is to talk about the effects of crime and punishment on the African American community.

Overview

Historically, the concept of justice is based on equality. It means that justice requires the states to treat individuals as equal. But in practical terms, it is very difficult to assume or create such an ideal situation, where, all individuals enjoy equal status. A fact stands that all humans are not equal. Pertaining to this universal truth, there exists an inherent distinction or differentiation that hinders the applicability of justice on the basis of equality. Plato and his followers have conceived justice on the basis of inequality. This inequality persists in hierarchical form. This means that provision of justice should be based on merit. This is what the basic concept prevailing in this world today. According to Aristotle, intellectual and moral virtue is two basic components, which define merit, when it comes to justice and he calls it the pure form of distributive justice.

Incarceration is not only a political and social issue but also has become a public health problem, since many people are imprisoned every year. The United States spends forty-nine billions of dollars each year to accommodate the 6.6% of the adult population is expected to become incarcerated at some point in their lives. Twenty years ago the annual budget for prisons was only 11 million. The sharp rise in U.S. has made the country held the nation with the highest percentage of people incarcerated in the world, even bigger than ...