Crime Numbers in 2008

I found the following video of crime statistics very interesting. It shows the different crimes and how they vary by race. It brings a nice perspective of crime in America.

Justice Delayed in North Carolina

http://thecrimereport.org/2010/09/08/justice-delayed-in-north-carolina/#more-46344

The Color of Justice brought up many important facts about race and crime. It informed us about crime rates, jury selections, disparties in sentencing and the list goes on.  In an article entitled “Justice Delayed in North Carolina”, the NAACP is calling on the Justice Department to step up on unsolved cases of African American homicides. More than 100 cases are currently under review. The NAACP are suggesting that the murders were of a serial killer, but the media and local law enforcement paid little attention to the matter because the victims were considered outcasts of society, some being prostitutes and substance abusers. I just foud this article rather interesting, and thought I should share. Overall through the semester we have learned, whether we choose to believe it or not, justice do depend upon ones color, and with color it depends upon ones financial status and postion within society.

What Would You Do / Racism In America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNu-WZdHzaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVgMvuCM_k&NR=1

For the second half of class we have spoken much about racial disparities that exists in America. We have seen many different articles and videos that support what has been written in The Color of Justice. The other day we spoke about racism within the real estate market, and this led me to share a video I saw from ABC. The video is not about real estate, but its about the disparities in crimes reported based on the race of the offender. I found parts of the video a little surprising. What do you think?

Youth Crime in Europe

In class we discussed how Europe deals with minority crime in a different way than America does. The following video shows how youth crime in Russia seems just as problematic. They all seem to be locked away in jail as well.

7 year old arrested

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17647997/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Chapter 10 focuses on minority youth and crime. We see the disparities in the arrest rates and treatment that afflict minors just as it affect adults, with Blacks and Hispanics filling up the jail cells more than whites.  They are treated more harshly than whites that may have committed similar crimes. Whilereading this, it made think about the case of 7year old, Gerard Mungo Jr. (black ) that was arrested for riding a dirt bike on the sidewalk in 2007. It was said that the boy was pulled by his neck and dragged of the bike and sent to the station where his fingerprints and mug shots were allegedly taken.

 

http://wvgazette.com/News/politico/201011230549

This article discusses the possible impact of a rise in the number of families that are below the poverty line will have on the level of child crime.

Youth Sent to Adult Prison

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This is a video I found about a youth tried as an adult and sent to prison. The issue at hand is not the severity of his crime, but, the punishment. He is convicted for murder, and serves 19 years in prison. However, the documentary is presently interested in his survival skills in an adult prison. One of the other convicts claims that Chavez being in an adult prison is not going to help Chavez in any way. Instead of rehabilitating Chavez, the prison system is going to turn him into a stronger criminal. He has to make allies and join factions to protect himself from the rest of his agressive inmates. The other inmate believes he should not befriend the new prisoner because it would make him seem weak, and in prison culture, looking weak is a taboo.

life of Juvenile in the system

http://thecrimereport.org/2010/08/16/my-life/#more-45374

This article links in to both our last class discussion and with chapter 10. The article is a first hand documentation of how the Juvenile justice system affected this man’s life after getting out of the system and in it. This leads into many of the things our class as covered, like drugs leading to most arrests and incarcerations in our jail and prison systems. Chapter 10 discuses how the this prison system affects these youths and how discriminating the system can be, and this article brings up all those points and how his life has shaped him to go on the path of gang life and culture. I feel this article gives us a great insight to what is truly going on in the lives of the juveniles who end up in the criminal justice system.

How trying children as adults have changed over the years.

This article is stating an opinion on why children should not be tried as adults. The author refers to two separate events, one from 20 years ago and another more recent. In the case posed 20 years ago, a child, aged 9, fired his rifle outside his house and killed a 7 year old girl. At the time, the prosecutor decided to try him as an adult. In case you were wondering, this was done in the state of Pennsylvania where there is no lower age limit for trying children as adults, when it comes to murder. The case they are comparing to today, is about an 11 year old boy who killed his father’s pregnant fiancée. Prosecution also decided to try him as an adult as well. However, this time his lawyers have motioned to the judge to remand his case to juvenile court.

Well beyond the fact that it is interesting to see how much, or how little, has changed over the past 20 years when it comes to trying children as adults, this also has a point to it. It is also interesting to think about how much media attention this got, because of the fact that the child was white, and not Black or Hispanic. Then imagine what kind of backlash, or agenda that the media was push. There are countless of instances where an African-American child killed someone and was tried as an adult. But in this instance, where a white child killed someone, the media makes it a point to show that the white child should not be tried as an adult but as a child. This just shows how big race plays when it comes to justice.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-18/opinion/schwartz.kids.trials_1_justice-system-juvenile-justice-cameron-kocher?_s=PM:OPINION

Youth in Jail

I found this a very vivid example of the obvious racialization of incarceration of minors in the United States. Because it is a transcript of a radio program, it really brings to life what the contrasting experiences are like for these youth. Walker et al. mention that minority youth are also victims of violence at higher rates than whites. Such children are thus doubly victimized. Raised in violence, they are punished with (undue) violence, and in many ways doomed to a life of the same.

http://insideandout.chicagopublicradio.org/content/along-racial-divide-juvenile-justice