The Race Factor: When the Time does not Equal the Crime

April 7, 2012 - PRLog -- When a Judge sits on a bench and makes a decision to sentence an individual I wonder what goes through their head.  Sad to say I do not think about the defendant’s criminal offense, the injury of the victims, or the sentencing guidelines.  I am thinking, as a defense attorney, did I convince the judge to not use race as a factor in make a sentencing decision.  

Although, we like to believe that justice is blind this is untrue.  There remains an indirect or unconscious bias in how African-Americans are viewed in the United States of America; especially young, black males.  I combat the race factor by trying to humanize my client.  
I try to explain to the judge that my client is not less than them, have the same goals and aspirations in life that the judge once had and have for their children and grandchildren; but made a wrong choice.

There are some individuals who need to be incarcerated because they are a threat to society and/or cannot control themselves and need a controlled environment to monitor them and protect society.  However, the issue with the mass incarceration of African-American males is that there is a “race factor” that is being decided in the courtroom.  The race of the defendant, too often, determines the sentence received.  Blacks and Latinos are also more likely to be charged, tried and convicted than their white counterparts for the same offenses.  The Reasons Why So Many Black People Are in Prison Go Well Beyond Profiling.  Keith Rushing. June 23, 2011.

Study after study finds that racial disparity in the sentencing between whites and African Americans exist.  The Sentencing Project compiled a report of numerous studies of racial disparity in sentencing spanning a 20-year period and found overwhelm evidence of racial discrimination against minority defendants.  Young black males were sentenced more severely than comparably situated white males in almost every situation.  Sadhbh Walshe.  Wednesday 4 April 2012 14.59 EDT

The idea of imprisonment was for “only wayward men” to be incarcerated not an African-American because of their skin color is felt as a threat.  Some individuals question whether or not the mass incarceration of African-American males is a political agenda to dilute the voting strength of black communities to ensure blacks could not effectively participate in the political process.  As of 2004, more black men were without the right to vote, due to felon disenfranchisement laws, than in 1870 – the year the 15th amendment was ratified. For these reasons, the mass incarceration of black people, in particular, is being compared to the days of the vicious Jim Crow laws that relegated blacks to second-class citizenship.  www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/04/incarcerated-with-extreme-prejudice?newsfeed=true

Whether or not a political agenda is behind the mass incarceration of African-American males this is not beneficial to society.  The imprisonment of so many young, black men creates a negative impact on not only the individuals, but their communities as well.  As Michael Tonry, Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Minnesota, points out in his book, Malign Neglect, Race, Crime and Punishment in America, mass incarceration of black males disproportionately affects poor black males and have had a destructive affect on poor black communities.  Author Sticky Wicket.  www.usariseup.com/sticky-wicket-questions/prison-population-shows-disproportionate-number-young-black-men.  
Mass incarceration is damaging to communities of color because it reduces the numbers of persons employed, lower tax dollars that could be paid toward public education and other governmental assistance programs, leaves children without fathers which creates at-risk behaviors, and results in a repeat of the same behaviors that led the parent(s) to prison  -- a cycle.  

Many seemed to take a blind attitude toward the racial disparity of sentencing because of the attitude that “if you do the crime, you should do the time.”  But the fact that African-American’s are disproportionately affected by receiving more severe penalties for the same offenses without other factors to increase the sentence clearly establish that the crime has nothing to do with the time.  We have a national problem.  Accordingly, action must be taken to watch sentencing rates and demand equality in sentencing because allowing the disparity to continue will not just be a reflection of a flawed criminal justice system but an extension of us as human beings.

Sign the petition at www.change.org/petitions/justice-for-c-k and become one of the first persons to support our campaign in the state of Maryland to fight for fair sentencing for juveniles who are tried as adults.

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UB1 POWER "empowering individuals" to "empower their communities." www.ub1power.groupsite.com. Attorney Melodie V. Shuler, Esq licensed D.C. and MD. melodieshuler@yahoo.com