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Racial Disparity in Juvenile Justice

LWOP 1

Inequality in the juvenile justice system is a problem that is starting to be noticed. The unfair treatment and harsh punishments of minorities has grown more and more as juveniles are being sentenced. You see the most racial disparity when it comes giving juvenile life without parole. The chance of a minority receiving juvenile life without parole is way more likely than the chance of a white youth to get juvenile life without parole. Majority of the time white youths commit the same the crimes but do not receive as harsh sentences a minority youths. There one was one statistic that really stood out to me between the racial disparities of white youth compared to youths of color. “The proportion of African Americans serving JLWOP sentences for the killing of a white person (43.4%) is nearly twice the rate at which African American juveniles are arrested for taking a white person’s life (23.2%). Conversely, white juvenile offenders with black victims are only about half as likely (3.6%) to receive a JLWOP sentence as their proportion of arrests for killing blacks (6.4%).” If it is the same crime the difference between who receives juvenile life should not be so far apart as it is. White youths should not have that much as an advantage when the courts decides what to sentence someone. Murder is not the only statistic where white youths don’t get punished with harsh sentences. Many of the individuals who receive juvenile life without parole for committing non-violent crimes are still at more of a disadvantage than white youths who commit the same crimes.
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Youths of color continue to simply be charge life without parole than white youths for non-violent crimes and murder crimes with no explanation it just remains to seem as racial injustice. Majority of these charges happen while individuals are still juveniles. Most of the non-violent offenses should not charge juveniles with life should be more understandable and consider that the delinquents are still young and should still serve time but not life without parole in which seems to happen with white youths. As I was doing this research I was shocked about the racial disparity in the juvenile justice system you don’t really here about a lot of this information. Many of people here about the injustice that happens in the adult court system and how there is a high number of minorities that are incarcerated and populate most of the adult correctional facilities throughout the United States. In our society the injustice in the juvenile justice system needs to be more aware to our society because most of the inmates that are incarcerated in the adult system start their life sentences in juvenile correctional facilities then are transferred to adult system. In the juvenile system juveniles should not continue to receive life without parole sentences especially for non- violent crimes. Juvenile still have the chance to turn their life around from mistakes that were made at such a young age. Many juvenile transform and become better people while going through correctional facilities. Juvenile justice system should focus more on rehabilitation instead of giving life without parole.

Questions: Should the Juvenile justice system still be allowed to crime Juveniles life without parole sentences?

What are some of the reason why prosecutors continue to give minorities harsher sentences that white youth for similar crimes?

Bilchik, S. (1999). Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved December 15, 2015, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/179007.pdf

Nellis, A. (2012). The Lives of Juvenile Lifers. The Sentencing Project. Retrieved December 15, 2015, from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/publications/jj_The_Lives_of_Juvenile_Lifers.pdf

Thornberry, T. (n.d.). Race, Socioeconomic Status and Sentencing in the Juvenile Justice System. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 64(1), 90-90. Retrieved December 16, 2015, from http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5840&context=jclc

Turner, J., & Dakwar, J. (2014). Hearing on Reports of Racism in the Justice System of the United States. American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved December 16, 2015, from https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/141027_iachr_racial_disparities_aclu_submission_0.pdf

 

Do gender stereotypes only affect women?

Have gender stereotypes improved?

In American society when it comes to the media and society advertising, entertainment, women & men are both portrayed by media with stereotypes. Women often times usually end up with disadvantages in this. The disadvantage with women is that when they are portrayed by the media often time they are perceived as sexual objects. Even when women are not being seen as sexual they are shown as the weaker gender between the two sexist. This video also shows that gender stereotypes aren’t just harmful to women they also can have a negative impact on men as well. The only difference is that men are not shown as sexual objects they are seen more as being macho and handling majority of their problems with violence to show that their being masculine.

 

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With Mo’ne Davis participating in the little league world series their was no secret that her parents did not raise her gender specific. If they had she would be playing softball not baseball. She has inspired many young girls to go out and do what they want to do instead of letting society define their roles. In our society many aren’t still use to this which caused some her to deal with some problems. As much praise as she got she has also had negative situations that came with it.

 

sex object cashpoint whih is more degrading

Can men be victims of sexism ?

Gender stereotypes not only exist in the media but some court rulings reinforce the typical gender stereotypes. Courts often view the males as the provider in relationships just because in American society we view it as this is how things should be done and have always been done as the man taking care of the women. In traditional gender roles females are viewed as stay at home and males are seen as the cash resource or the one who supports the relationship. Many times in divorce cases the judge will often rule in favor of the male to pay alimony even if the wife has enough potential to make a lot of money.  Back in the 50’s it was more reasonable for males to pay alimony for the simple fact that women were housewives who stayed home and and handled all of those responsibilities. Now things have changed for the simple fact that there women in today’s society have the ability to get jobs well payed jobs at that and have their own money. For example, their was a report about a divorce case that a women received her PhD. during the marriage and even earned a high paying job that paid just as much as his job did. She quit to start up her own practice which made her salary take huge deficit. The judge then required the husband to pay a lifetime of alimony.

Questions:

  1. How much influence do you think the media plays in gender stereotypes today ?
  2. When talking about gender stereotypes how can we ensure equality for both men and women?
  3. What are some of the negative stereotyping on today’s youth? How are these stereotypes influencing the pattern of being raised gender specific?

 

References

Berlatsky, N. (2013, May 29). When Men Experience Sexism. Retrieved October 21, 2015.