Law Advice

Racism and the Criminal Justice System While many claim that the long tradition of racism in the united states ended with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the legacies of slavery and segregation continue to affect us society on all levels. Today, African- Americans are disproportionately imprisoned by racist drug laws, denied access to the economic and educational benefits enjoyed by Anglo-Americans, and robbed of their civil rights and human dignity by a pervasive white supremacy that lurks just beneath the surface of our so-called democracy. This countrys criminal justice system has not escaped the influence of, and is frequently the direct tool for, this racism. Our criminal injustice system creates a situation in which African-American men have greater than a 1 in 4 chance of going to prison (compared to 1 in 23 for a white man)1 and in which the violence and horror of lynching have been transformedand institutionalized into a new form: the racist death penalty.1 Lifetime Likelihood of Going to State or Federal Prison. Bureau of Justice Statistic 74.6.146.127 This country’s criminal justice system … US Latino men, like African-American men, are disproportionately imprisoned. by racist drug laws. … prisonactivist.org/factsheets/racism.pdf