Anti-Racism in the Criminal Justice System, A Brief Literature GAP: Review

Abstract

Racism in the criminal justice system is one of the most significant challenges in the United States. The minorities, especially the blacks and Hispanics, have been punitively punished and targeted in a more aggressive approach over similar crimes committed by their white counterparts. Law enforcement's racist approach can largely be blamed for the vile racism in the criminal justice system. Rampant racial profiling is a common approach within the criminal justice system that propagates injustice against minorities. Besides, overt racism occurs through legal setups that are set to impose retrogressive rulings on the minority groups and fail to cater to such people's unique needs. The citizens play a central role in making criminal justice systems anti-racists. The citizens can forge community-oriented policing strategies to ensure the interactions between the racial minorities and the police in their neighbourhoods complies with existing professional guidelines to deter unbiased racial profiling. Another step that can be taken by the citizens is collaborating with law enforcement agencies to explore alternative strategic plans and guidelines that promote the amicable handling of minority offenders and finding viable alternatives to detention and incarceration. Racism in the criminal justice system is a complex problem, but with the adoption of pragmatic approaches and tactics, the vice can be eliminated. One of the primary steps towards achieving such a goal is acknowledging the system's racial disparities' cumulative nature. The paper proposes future studies to focus on leveraging decision points to develop more stringent anti-racism measures in the criminal justice system.