Stereotyping of Blacks as Criminals - Coursework Example

Lecturer: Topic: Black Crime in America Introduction Typical of the American culture is the racial stereotyping of criminals, which is unfortunate and has resulted to the civil rights movement to galvanise the linkage between blacks and crime. This stereotyping of blacks as criminals has hence been so persuasive in the society and has erroneously served as subtle rationale for the unofficial policy and practice of racial profiling by criminal justice practitioners. The resultant effect is the euphemism for the young black males in the American population and hence images of crime have been associated with them. This essay looks into the reality of this assertion in reference to crime rate in America. Perception of crime in America It is important to understand the image of crime and the nature of the offences that the various societies are experiencing as opposed to the actual dynamics of crime. The prevalent representation of crime in the American society is that it is overwhelmingly committed by young Black men hence the image the society has of black men has to do with violence and menacing street thug fuelled by typifications everywhere as perceptions about the presumed racial identity of criminals may be so ingrained in public consciousness. When an individual talks of crime, race does not need to be specifically mentioned for a person to make the connection between the two and hence a notion has been instilled that talking about crime is talking about race ((Barlow, 151).) The phenomenon of attributing crime to the black population in America is not new and according to Hawkins (15- 26), the white have been for a long time having it that the criminal behaviour of the black population is an inherent characteristic. The reputation of the black population has been engulfed by beliefs about tendencies towards criminality that can be traced back to times of slavery where the same was their reputation and hence by extension they still are. The association of black with crime seems to have been in existence for some time and the resultant stereotyping has seen its evolution from a petty thief into a criminal predator capable of other bigger crimes such as rape and murder. Moreover, blacks have been often portrayed as physically threatening and hence the stereotyping they are associated with is not an unusual phenomenon. From a view of general criminal tendency, the evolving criminal image of blacks seems to grow threatening each and every passing day hence this has been termed by some as a biological flaw of the African Americans. Looking into the past few decades, America has seen the emergence of the controversial law enforcement practice of racial profiling where officials target racial minorities in criminal investigations in an attempt to increase the likelihood of uncovering illegal activity. This may be a consequence of prevailing stereotypes about the race of criminals as some of the suppositions on which these criminal justice experts base their examinations could be the consequence of a true difference in illegal involvement. On the other hand, most of the racial profiling that has been seen can be attributed to their roots in the wrong information in the hands of the police due to inaccuracy and discrimination tendencies. For an accurate analysis of the current representation of American crime as an overwhelmingly black phenomenon, it will require a though investigation to reveal the true picture in reality. Blacks and crime Crime statistics and the criminal justice system have been in the front line in contributing to the formulation of public association between blacks and criminality due to the numbers of blacks represented is at an overwhelmingly high rate. It is expected that if their ration of crime involvement in this statistics is at all-time low, then there would be a change in their association with crime and hence a change in their involvement in crime and criminal justice measures that their white counterparts are. It is well known that the white population on the other hand form the greatest percentage of criminals and convicts by looking at statistics held by the department of justice. Actually, the whites due to their large numbers as compared to the blacks are the main perpetrators of crime but the shared view is that most of it is committed by the blacks A perception of black crime in the society reveals that blacks are more likely than other racial or ethnic group to be characterized by whites as violent, more likely to abuse drugs, and more likely to engage in crime than are whites. A General Social Survey question in 1990 showed that 54% of whites are certain that blacks have a tendency to get involved in violence; in 1991, the National Race Survey showed that a clear majority of both whites and blacks agreed with the statement that blacks are aggressive or violent. Other countries such as Canada echo the same receptiveness to the image of a young black man as a criminal threat as America as research suggests that racialization of crime directly affects the quality of justice received by blacks. A casual model of Canadians also show an ovwewhelming belief that blacks are crime prone as more of them believe that a relationship exists between race and criminality. The same group thought that 65 per cent of black people committed more crimes than other racial or ethnic groups as another study has shown that race and crime stereotyping have been observed in other countries. According to Hawkins (52), both foreign and domestic typifications may be grounded in beliefs about the causes of crime and who is likely to become criminal, which they attribute to black young men in the society and their criminal tendencies. The actual involvement of blacks in crime in America Researchers such as Tonry (32-57) acknowledge that blacks indeed involved in a disproportional amount of crime in general and violent crime in particular where violent crimes such as robbery and homicide, there have been times when Blacks were arrested in absolute numbers that surpassed those of whites. In recent years the blacks did not exceed the whites when it came to majority of arrests but on the other hand it can be seen that their representation in the general public is higher and although Blacks compose approximately 13% of the U.S. population, in 2002 they accounted for 38% of arrests for violent crimes and nearly 30% of arrests for property crimes. Juvenile arrest statistics indicate that during the same year, Black youth accounted for approximately 43% of arrests for violent crimes and 27% of arrests for property crimes (U.S. Department of Justice, 2004); Researchers have suggested that crime committed by African Americans may be especially salient not only because it exceeds what would be expected based on the racial composition of the country but also perhaps because the violent crimes that tend to be most fearsome are the ones that are most disproportionately perpetrated by Black males (Kennedy, 33-41). Blacks’ involvement in drugs Referring back to the known war on drugs of the 1980s, a powerful contributor to the typification of criminals as Black led to a researched war on drugs primarily waged in the early 1980s by the Reagan administration. It had a significant impact on the Black population by funnelling much of it through the criminal justice system as a result of the passage of strict crack cocaine laws (Currie, 18) where crack was generally recognized as a relatively inexpensive drug that was predominantly used by impoverished racial minorities. The pervasive dialog regarding this war conveyed the message to the public that the problem of crack cocaine, previously thought to be common only to minority communities, was suddenly spreading to a very anxious white America. Americans were already familiar with cocaine before the war on drugs, but prior to the so-called crack epidemic, powder cocaine was prevalent in White communities, with little acknowledgement from law enforcement (Reeves & Campbell, 44, 46). It was only when this drug was transformed into a relatively affordable and accessible variety that began to be used predominantly by Blacks that it became a prioritized target of policy makers and the criminal justice system which helped to promote punitive policies that have hit hard on the Black population. National crime surveys indicate that most racial and ethnic groups consume illegal drugs at approximately similar rate specifically, Whites account for almost 75% of the nation’s illegal drug users, and Blacks account for about 13%, which is consistent with their representations in the greater U.S. population. Blacks, however, account for about 75% of the nation’s drug prisoners, which reveals the extreme disparity manifest in the national crackdown on the drug problem where the sale and use of crack cocaine is typically used by racial minorities. The crime carries heavier criminal penalties than those associated with other illegal drugs such as powder cocaine, which has been used more often by Whites resulting in a highly disproportionate number of Blacks who have been criminalized because of their drug use. The suggestion has been made that the war on drugs may have been more appropriately referenced as a war on Blacks or a war on Black drug use due to the overrepresentation of African Americans who are processed through the criminal justice system directly. Hence the resulting from the war on drugs, they have been depicted as the primary source of this country’s drug problem and the consequence is that many may have come to associate Blacks with drug use and drug use with Blacks. The consumption of illicit drugs, therefore, may be a very specific racially typified phenomenon and in addition to being illegal themselves, drugs are frequently related to other types of crime, such as robbery and assault; this fact reinforces the association of Blacks with crime and crime with Blacks. Media Portrayals of Blacks and Crime The media has been in the forefront in reporting crime activities especially those involving blacks and this can be said to be a factor fuelling racial profiling in the criminal justice system. There is readily accessible information from the media shaping perceptions of crime and justice practises that depicts high levels of criminal tendencies among the blacks in the society. On the other hand, research aimed at examining the racial content of televised newscasts in Chicago found that they commonly portray accused Black criminals in scowling mug shots or in video clips being led in handcuffs by White police officers; in fact, it is well established that there is a disproportionate amount of the media coverage devoted to violent crimes for which Black males are more likely than others to be arrested. This has the effect of reinforcing the idea that the public already has of the young black males as criminals routinely involved in violent crimes in America. In recognition of this, one study argues that Blacks are demonized by the faces chosen to depict criminality in crime news stories; images which are so widespread that it would not be surprising if much of American society has subconsciously come to accept the visual portrayal of Blacks as criminals in contemporary society. A recent analysis of Time and News Week Cover stories over several decades has supported this contention (Barlow, 19) the media and those who are captured on film, such as politicians and government leaders, frequently link race and crime, which reinforces a criminal image for the public’s consumption. This development has seemingly increased in recent years and is apparently well-received by American voters and is aggravated by racial politics conveyed by media, a phenomenon employed to gain constituent support at various points in this country’s history. This was particularly true following the 1960s, pursuant to concerns about Blacks and the strengthening civil rights movement where the get-tough advertising rhetoric of politicians, conservative and liberal alike, aspiring to elevate partisan popularity, frequently manipulates the fear and indignation of citizens by conjuring fright-inducing images. Among the most iconic of those images were photographs of Willie Horton, the Black prison inmate who committed rape while out of prison on work furlough which were included in political advertisements sponsored by George Bush’s campaign to disparage his opponent. The message bore was that this young Black man, and as well other black males involved in crime of his age, was the main perpetrators of the violent crime in the United States; this image was intended to serve as the visual representation of a criminal predator for fearful Americans (Tonry, 75) More recently, images of John Allen Muhammad, the convicted Washington, D.C., area Beltway sniper killer, and his young companion, Lee Boyd Malvo, received a great deal of media coverage and consumed substantial political energy, stirring public demands for governmental action. To the initial surprise of law enforcement, these serial killers turned out to be young Black men and their photographs ubiquitously appeared in nearly every news medium available for months following the October 2002 attacks; and with one of them having the name Muhammad, avoiding the association of race with their criminality would likely be difficult for even the least likely to stereotype. The media presumably have the power to help construct the meaning of race in our society and this visual representation is assimilated to a larger audience group which defines blacks as criminals. The resultant effect is the enhanced stereotyping of a black male as a dangerous criminal in the loose (Entman, 350) as research on media influence has further concluded that Blacks are indeed more likely to appear as criminally threatening on local television news. The creation here in encourages the social construction of threat in relation to Blacks. Two empirical studies on Blacks and crime in the media, which encompassed 55 days of observing local television news in Chicago, found that many news stories feature Blacks in a negative light and discovered that Blacks are often portrayed as threatening and are frequently depicted without using a name, which serves to denote personal identity (Entman, 360). Conclusion Black criminals have been recognised with a negative image as a consequence of representations of crime such as crack cocaine violations and violent offenses which they are majorly involved in. Their actual involvement and consequently high numbers of arrests has made the black criminal stereotyping worse in recent years as they do account for a disproportionate amount of crime arrests and are disproportionately convicted and incarcerated. However, public estimates of Black criminality surpass the reality as the media further perpetuates ideas involving race with law-breaking, and this has been taken up by politicians to drive their political agendas (Wilson 1-15). The above discussed phenomena has been in the frontline of impacting the belief that young black males are a criminal threat to the American society in the contemporary setting, where the prevalent typifications of Blacks as criminals seems to justify law enforcement tactics that exploit race in criminal investigations. This then fuels the practice of racial profiling by criminal justice officials and only when criminal justice personnel acknowledge that stereotypes may be founded on flawed or based information and discriminatory practices then will the basis for sustaining the unsanctioned policy and exercise of racial outlining of criminals be negated. Works cited Barlow, Mellisa. “Race and the problem of crime in Time and Newsweek cover stories,” 1946 to 1995, 1998. Print Entman, Robert. Blacks in the news: Television, modern racism and cultural change. Journalism Quarterly, 69.(1992).p. 341-361 Currie, Elliott. “Crime And Punishment In America.” 1st ed. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1998. Print Hawkins, Darnell Felix. “Ethnicity, Race, And Crime.” 1st ed. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New Yo"rk Press, 1995. Print Kennedy, Randall. “Race, Crime, And The Law.” 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997 Print. Reeves, Jimmie Lynn, and Richard Campbell. “Cracked Coverage.” 1st ed. Durham: Duke University Press, 1994. Print. Tonry, Michael. “Malign Neglect--Race, Crime, And Punishment In America.” 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print. U.S. Department of Justice. “Crime in the United States,” 2004. Web. 5 May, 2014, Wilson, William. “The Truly Disadvantaged.” 1st ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Print. 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