Research Paper on:
Minorities and the US Justice System

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
than white men. Some rather outdated statistics, in fact, give rise to the fact that Washington, D.C., which is among the heaviest minority cities in the United States, has become  the nations "murder capital" (Szykowny, 1994). This gives rise to all kinds of unfortunate ethnic stereotypes concerning blacks and their tendency to  drift toward crime. While one can blame society to a certain extent for this problem, it could be postulated that perhaps the justice system and prisons are to blame as  well - the concept of "lock em and leave em" simply does nothing more than turn criminals into harder and more desperate criminals once they are released on society once  again. Jerome Miller, executive director of the National Center for Institutions and Alternatives, was interviewed for an article for The Humanist  Magazine in 1994, and outlined some humane alternatives to the current strategy of incarceration and retribution (Szykowny, 1994). Some of the alternatives that the NCIA has developed have included community  service, restitution to the victim, forms of supervision in the community and drug or alcohol treatment programs as opposed to jail time (Szykowny, 1994). "We try to do for the  average offender what a thinking, compassionate, middle-class parent or brother or son would do for someone in their family, were they in trouble," Miller said (Szykowny, 1994, p. 9). Part  of the problem, Miller contended, is that the so-called "criminal justice system" seems to be more destructive than helpful (Szykowny, 1994). According to Miller, 80 percent of people who are  jailed are brought there for misdemeanors and lesser felonies (Szykowny, 1994). A lot of this isnt even drug-related, but public-order offenses, such as intoxication, trespassing and minor shoplifting (Szykowny, 1994).