Criminal Justice in America with focus on Drug Crimes

Criminal Justice in America with focus on Drug Crimes

Introduction

Socioeconomic factors are usually the chief contributor in turning ordinary citizens into criminals. These factors, as such, indirectly impact the criminal justice system of the USA. USA is a large country with an equally large and diverse population. People of various ethnicities and race reside in the United States. However, to accommodate social justice in terms of criminology, an impartial justice system is required to be implemented. Though, this is not the case. Social inequality has its implications on the criminal justice system in America. This means that the wealthy who commit crimes are often able to get out of the stranglehold of justice, whereas the poor are horribly stuck in the legal procedures. Furthermore, racial profiling has been a chief blame centered on the caretakers of justice functioning in the country. It is argued that the biases in police work have caused many minority members and other members of different ethnicities to suffer uncalled for harassment and prejudice by the law enforcement officials. As such, often at the receiving end of such injustice are those with severe socio-economic constraints. . Moreover, the affluent and the privileged with their connections in the political echelons, help these few exert pressure on the justice system and tilt the justice on their behalf (Bateman, 2007).

The aim of this paper is to discuss the criminal justice system in the US. Furthermore, the analysis would be construed with special focus on drug crimes and racial profiling that have erupted in the practices of the law enforcement agencies of the country. The final section of the paper would purpose drug rehabilitation programs in prisons, to counter the problem of drugs in the US society and its diverse communities.

Discussion

Arrests for Drug Crimes

There is compelling evidence which suggests that racial and ethnic disparity in arrests for drug crimes is profoundly biased than there is for other arrests. According to recent data from U.S. Department of Justice (2002), Hispanics are arrested 3 times as often as Whites for drug offenses while African Americans are arrested 3.5 times as often, American Indian or Alaska Natives 1.7 times as often, and Asians and Pacific Islanders 0.2 times as often. However, African Americans, Hispanics and American Indian or Alaska Natives are no more likely than other groups to self-report using illegal drugs, and they are also less likely to self-report using alcohol. Therefore, there is evidence that some minority groups are arrested at a disproportionately high rate for drug crimes despite not using illegal drugs at a higher rate than other groups. However, there is some evidence that minority overrepresentation in drug arrests is decreasing (Aos et.al, 2006).

However, alternate research indicates that the proportion of African American adults arrested for drug offenses (excluding marijuana possession) declined by 17.2%. This decline can be a cause of several possible reasons. This includes:

A decline in the severity of sentences for crack cocaine offenses,

Decreased police targeting of minority neighborhoods, ...