Contemporary Issues-Gender and Race Equality

Tanya LaForce

University of Phoenix

CJA/313 Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice

Brian Bugge

September 6, 2008

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Contemporary Issues-Gender and Race Equality

Gender and Race Equality as it relates to the Criminal Justice system has many areas of interest. One can look at it from the stand point of an offender. Some will look at it from the prospective of the victim. Another can look at it from the working point of view; how are employees of the Criminal Justice System treated as it relates to gender and race equality? This paper will look at the gender and race equality as it relates to the criminal and those employed by the system. Race has led to many foul cries over the years because of people being unequally convicted. In the early days a person of color could be sentenced and hanged based upon an accusation of committing a crime.

U.S. Supreme Court building.

Prison Industrial Complex #occupysanquentin

Tacoma prison

Due process was generally afforded to those who were white. A white woman could accuse a black man of rape, without cause or reason and the black man was usually met by a lynch mob. If the black man made it to court he would likely be found guilty of the crime (Dorr, 2004). Race is the subject of much scrutiny as it relates to incarceration in the criminal justice system. Currently, approximately two million people are incarcerated. Of them, 70% are people of color. The group with the fastest growing incarceration rate is black females. One in three black women between the ages of 20 and 29 are either in jail, on probation or on parole (California Prison Focus, 2007). In 1995, black men were 7 times more likely to be in jail than white men. Native Americans...