For several decades, the criminal justice system (CJS) has been shaped by economic bias. The crimes involving the wealthy are either treated lightly or ignored. On the other hand, the common street crimes committed by the poor result in arrest, charges, conviction, and sentencing. More often than not, African-Americans are most likely to get arrested, charged, found guilty, and taken to prison than the whites who commit the same crimes. The discussed texts address the concepts of social inequalities, race, and institutions regarding prison as a form of social control.
Change in the CJS Over the Years
The criminal justice system has experienced a positive change regarding racial discrimination and social inequality. Police officers treat offenders discriminatively when they handle and release affluent offenders informally without taking them to court. On the other hand, apprehending the poor to court for the same crime. However, such sociological disparities have changed through democracy, procedural justice, and training (Akbar,2020). In this relation, more democracy has been enforced in policing to increase public participation in the CJS. As such, the discretion of agents of the criminal justice system has been better regulated in dealing with cases of social inequality.
In addition, procedural justice and training encourage the police to handle offenders fairly. Individuals perceive the police as legitimate when they are treated justly. In that regard, the fairness of the officers promotes legitimacy, which results in the facilitation of public compliance. Furthermore, the prisons have tried, if not fully, built cohesion and social control with the inmates despite being brown, black, or poor. As such, social inequalities, race, and any other disparity regarding treatment by the CJS have been mitigated.
Significant changes in the CJS
Remarkable changes in the criminal justice system in relation to social inequality, institutions, and racial disparities have been observed. Social inequality and racial disparity are still experienced. Furthermore, the crimes committed by the rich such as embezzlement of funds, are treated leniently as opposed to crimes committed by the poor. In that event, however, a marked improvement has been realized through proper training of the criminal justice system agents on fairness, being bureaucrats and democrats. Therefore, unlike in the past several decades, the criminal justice system is somehow better.
Roles of Prison in Modern Society
Institutions such as prisons do not have much role in modern society. Prisons indeed act as a deterrent institution, which reinforces social regulation. However, it does not maintain the state of equilibrium and balance in society. Besides the high reoffending rate, prisons do not treat all populations equally. According to Reiman and Leighton (2015), the poor are most likely to get more prison sentences than the affluent for the same crime.
In addition, prisons are believed to have been constructed historically to punish criminals harshly. In modern society, criminals are placed in prisons for surveillance based on the theory that individuals change their behaviors since they know they are being monitored continuously. In that respect, the theory fails to acknowledge that many prisoners do not change their behaviors despite being monitored. Therefore, given the inequality, reoffending rate, and failure to rehabilitate criminals, it disqualifies prisons as an effective modern means of social control.
The Role Played by Race and Social Class in Incarceration
Race and social class play a role in who goes to prison. African-Americans are disproportionally represented in American prisons (Reiman & Leighton, 2015). Further, racial disparity escalates the effects of the economic status on criminal justice results. As such, being unemployed and not white raises the odds of incarceration over those related to being unemployed or not white. Moreover, blacks who end up in prisons are more or less close to the whites who do economically.
References
Akbar, A. A. (2020). An abolitionist horizon for (police) reform. California Law Review., 108– 1781.
Reiman, J., & Leighton, P. (2015). Rich get richer and the poor get prison: Ideology, class, and criminal justice (10th ed). Routledge.