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Paper Topic:

Literature Review- Racism in the Criminal Justice System

Running head : Racism


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University Affiliation



Racism and the criminal justice system cannot be separated from each other . The migration of people from different parts of the world to the United States (Gabbidon Greene , 2006 ) has led to racial influences attitudes and discrimination among people in the country . Racial discrimination has also pervaded the criminal justice system of the country

Discourses on racism in the criminal justice system involve many different issues , such as those involving the sources of racism , its

manifestations , and solutions to the problem . Below are articles that discuss these various aspects of interaction between racism and the criminal justice system

Bowling , B Phillips , C (2007

Disproportionate and Discriminatory

Reviewing the Evidence on Police Stop and Search

The Modern Law Review Limited 70 (6 , 936-961

The police and the black community often interact in the former 's exercise of its stop and search powers . The primary purpose of the stop and search power of the police is to confirm or allay their suspicions about people without the need to arrest them . However , this power involves the exercise of discretion on the part of the police , and such discretion opens the window for racial discrimination (Bowling Phillips , 2007

This power is investigative in nature , to help the police detect and prevent crime . However , racial discrimination enters the picture because the police have different interpretations of the grounds in which stop and search could be used . For example , stop and search is often used by the police if there is reasonable suspicion ' This ground could be a window for racial discrimination since the police could use their individual stereotypes and generalizations when they interpret the term reasonable suspicion (Bowling Phillips , 2007

In British society , racial discrimination and stereotyping are still common , and they are often observed in the practices of police officers Moreover , racism is also manifested in the use of racist languages Furthermore , racism is also obvious in the observed selective enforcement of police officers based on cultural stereotyping and `heightened suspicion ' of black people (Bowling Phillips , 2007

Bridges , L (1999

The Lawrence Inquiry -

Incompetence , Corruption , and Institutional Racism

Journal of Law and Society 26 (3 , 298-322

This article discusses institutional racism in the criminal justice system , in the context of cases decided in London . It reports a groundbreaking finding about the existence of institutional racism in the police services throughout the country , such as the Metropolitan Police Service (Bridges , 1999

Racial discrimination among the police was found to be influenced by several factors , such as increase in incidents of street crime and exclusions of black people from schools . The black community feels that they are excluded fro society , which generally causes them to be hostile to the society at large (Bridges , 1999

Denney , D (1997

Anti-racism and the Limits of Equal Opportunities Policy

in the Criminal Justice System

Social Policy Administration 31 (5 , 79-95

David Denney discusses evidence pointing to the existence of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system . There is...
