The Incarceration of the Races

By: Leland C. Abraham, Esq.

It has long been the opinion of many that minorities have an unfavorable position when they are defendants in a court of law. Many feel that black males, in particular, are at a disadvantage when it comes to the pursuit of justice. It has long been determined that Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately represented in the U.S. prison populations. Determining why that is has become a difficult task.

The disparity in minority populations represented in the prison system versus the white population has caught the eye of several human rights organizations. One such organization is Human Right’s Watch. Human Right’s Watch researched prison populations across the country and discovered that, on a state by state basis, there is a dramatic disparity between the percentage of Blacks and Latinos behind bars and their White counter-parts. According to the Human Right’s Watch, in 2002, Blacks and Hispanics make up sixty-two (62) percent of the U.S. incarcerated population, while only accounting for twenty-five (25) percent of the total U.S. population. According to the Human Right’s Watch’s research, between ten (10) and fifteen (15) percent of the total Black population is incarcerated in twelve (12) states (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming). Black women are incarcerated at rates between ten (10) and thirty-five (35) times higher than their White counter-parts in fifteen (15) states (Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming).

This disparity will lead many to wonder about the integrity of the justice system. Incarceration is the result of a finding of guilt in a criminal court. Criminal Courts have a higher burden of proof than their Civil Court counter-parts. In a criminal matter, a defendant may only be found guilty in three ways: A guilty plea, a conviction by a jury of the defendant’s peers, or a verdict of guilty from a bench trial (a trial in which a single judge determines guilt or innocence). Based on the statistics that the Human Right’s Watch has compiled, it does appear that Blacks have been “found guilty” in criminal court rooms at a higher rate than Whites have. This disparity can be attributable to many different factors, but one central factor may account for why Blacks continue to receive the “short end’ of the legal stick.

The burden of proof in criminal cases is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This means that a prosecutor has to prove that there is no doubt that the defendant committed the charged crime. Historically, this standard has been proven to not be a proper bench-mark for justice in the annals of American Jurisprudence when it pertains to Blacks and Hispanics. Over the last five (5) to seven (7) years, there have been many cases in which defendants were serving sentences, only to have those sentences overturned because of some exonerating evidence. When one does an analysis of these cases, many of these defendants claimed to have had alibis during the time the crimes were committed, but these claims went unheard. As a result, many Blacks were convicted of crimes in which they were innocent.

Although there have been many legal reforms since the advent of Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, many feel that nothing has really changed in the scope of the justice system. While many would tell these “skeptics” of the legal system that their claims have no merit, an analysis of recent court decisions may lead some credence to these claims. One such instance is the case of Shaquanda Cotton. Cotton, a 15 year old resident of Paris, Texas, was given a sentence of seven (7) years imprisonment for pushing a school monitor. Many argue that the punishment does not fit the crime in this case. Cotton, who had a medical condition that required a morning medicine dosage, was eager to get to the nurse’s office before school started. Cotton attempted to press past the school monitor, a 58 year old Caucasian woman, and was shoved by the monitor. In a retaliatory effort, Cotton shoved the woman back and was subsequently arrested. Once her case went to trial, she was given a sentence of seven (7) years imprisonment. Many in the community felt this was a miscarriage of justice because the same judge who sentenced Cotton to seven (7) years imprisonment, sentenced a 14 year old White girl to probation for burning down the family home three (3) months before he decided the Cotton case.

The Cotton case is one of many examples where there is a perceived bias within the justice system. Although Blacks have made much progress since the advent of the Civil Rights legislation, there still appears to be a systematic discrepancy in treatment between the White population and the Black and Hispanic populations when it comes to the justice system. Until this inequity is rectified, there will continue to be a disparity among the races in prison populations.

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