Police Influence on Society

natural fairness force Influence on SocietyThere always has been conflict amid law enforcement and pagan and social class groups. or so argue jurisprudence exit hear an African American, Hispanic, or Asian before they will arrest a whiteness there is also a belief guard will arrest a person coming from a lesser socioeconomic class before he or she will arrest a person from a more affluent place in society. Unfortunately, though the nefarious nicety system denies these allegations, history tells a quite different story.History of PolicingPrior to the 1970s, law enforcement officers were roughlyly Caucasian males, cinque foot 10 inches or above. Although this requirement no longer exists today, in the 70s it meant Hispanics and Asians could never look frontward to a c arr in law enforcement and though African Americans could meet height requirements, other variation practices kept them from advancing to a high rank. In 1964, The Civil Rights Act abolished occupation d iscrimination (Walker, 2011) besides though minorities could become police officers, other obstacles like harassment, lesser assignments, and the inability to make formal complaints to those high in the department because these senior administrators made the regulations.This meant that African American, Hispanic, Latino, and Asian officers were given menial tasks like clerical work, jailor duty, dispatch, and the processing during intake of new offenders. Also, minority officers rarely performed patrol duties, which was a requirement for promotion, minorities erect it significantly harder to gain the higher ranks their Caucasian male counterparts could (Walker, 2011). Fortunately, things use up changed significantly, and the role of police officer for minorities fool become avalid, important aspect of todays policing. For instance, minority employment as police officers has increased dramatically. African American and Hispanics are now a majority in somewhat police departments .Furthermore, in some cities, African American, and Hispanic officers are the majority of police officers. The positive effect indoors the community is the diversity in officers, gives different cultures and ethnicities police officers they can relate to more comfortably, which, in turn, strengthens the police/community bond. Some agencies offer incentive pay to bilingual officers if the majority of a certain cranial orbit where only Spanish is spoken by the majority of the community. Though there are still some agencies believed to continue discrimination against different ethnic groups, but this is not believed to be true for the largest partage of agencies.Arrest and ImprisonmentAlthough law enforcement itself has evolved, there are those who believe some things do not change the treatment of individuals from different ethnic groups and social classes comprising this opinion. One category focusing on racial disparity transpires when a substantial pas seul in the proportion of an ethnic group signified in the overall populace and the proportion of the analogous ethnic group highlighted at any other instance is determined in the justice process. For instance, 12% of the U.S. population is African American, and also account for approximately 40% of arrests, 50% of the prison population, and 50 percent of the inmates on death row (Racial Disparities, 2012). An additional type of racial disparity is brought to light when a substantially larger proportion of a racial/minority group than Caucasians, are familiar in an ordinarywealth of the culpable justice system.For example, more than nine percent of the total population of adult males either incarcerated, or on probation/parole are African American, as opposed to the two percent of adult Caucasian males (Racial Disparities, 2012). Furthermore, African Americans are arrested four times as often on drug charges than Caucasian, though the ratio for drug use between the two are almost identical.Theory on E xistenceRacial disparities in the criminal justice are placed in three categoriesdifferential involvement, individual racism, and institutional racism (Racial Disparities, 2012, p. 1) African-Americans and Hispanics are differentially involved in criminality. Their criminal behavior is because these groups are afflicted by a significantly higher rate of poverty and unemployment. Some disparities are because of the prejudice of officers, the prosecution, defense attorneys, judges, probation/parole officers, and parole board members as individuals (Racial Disparities, 2012).Prejudicial beliefs and discriminatory behavior are characteristics of individual racism that leads to criminal justice authorities against minority groups and individuals. Finally, a portion of the disparities can be credited to institutional racism, which occurs because of statutes, classifications, and facility practices contributing to inequality against racial minorities. fond ClassTypically, lower income ar eas are known for higher criminal activity and lower police presence the modest window theory, which suggest disorganization and decomposing neighborhoods are breeding grounds for criminal behavior, are image to be a lesser concern for police. However, in higher class, more affluent neighborhoods, police officers are thought to show greater presence, have faster response time, and are less likely to arrest or ticket a person from a higher level of socioeconomics. From a political standpoint, though most police officers do not differentiate between social classes however, police agencies and public officials who oversee policing agencies, do.It is common knowledge that public officials attempt to gain and retain the support of affluent members of the community, some of this is accomplished by protecting the personal property and family of the affluent. Though this propagates positive relationships for police and the affluent, and has throughout history, it does not solidify relatio nships between police and the less fortunate. Police in early America were hand picked by the affluent, and some are of the opinion this has not changed. Relationships between lower income neighborhoods and police are often strained because citizens in these areas are less likely to speak with a police officer out of fear of becoming determine as a snitch, and most are not willing to risk their safety, or that of their families to attempt to shroud or witness a crime.ConclusionJust as individual relationships are, at best, difficult to manage, the relationship between the criminal justice system and a diverse society is no less difficult. Racial, cultural, gender, religious, and sexual orientation have always been, and most likely always will be a significant area of competition and intolerance in American society today. Though steps have been taken to reduce prejudice and discrimination against those of difference ethnicities and socioeconomic groups, the fact that the system h as been forced into making laws to do this, is disturbing at the very least.