ISSUES THEN AND NOW

Crime and the Criminal Justice System

A detailed report can be found here
  • The criminal justice system exemplifies the way institutionalized prejudice can negatively affect minorities. African American’s are overrepresented in every step of the criminal justice system from informal contact with the system and arrests to sentencing and even capital punishment. The disparity throughout the system are reminiscent of the 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in which the death penalty was declared unconstitutional due to the fact that it was arbitrary, had extreme racial and economic imbalances, and did not provide sufficient due process safeguards. These topics arose again with former Governor Ryan’s blue ribbon committee on capital punishment and the eventual 2000 moratorium in Illinois based on the committee’s findings that the death penalty is still arbitrary and wrought with prejudice and inconsistencies.
  • Governor Ryan’s special panel found that the race of the criminal and victim effect sentencing to death row. Defendants who killed African Americans were nearly 60% less likely to face the death penalty than those who killed Caucasians.
  • Overrepresentation at all steps of the criminal justice system, both in Illinois and the country as a whole, are evident in that: Drug arrests have increased dramatically in the past 15 years. African American men account for 4 out of 5 of drug arrests, and are more likely to be prosecuted and incarcerated than Caucasians.
  • There is no connection between these statistics and drug use. In fact, Caucasians are 125% more likely to use marijuana, 181% more likely to use cocaine, 413% more likely to use inhalants, and 516% more likely to use LSD than African Americans.
  • African Americans account for 79% of Chicago’s drug arrests, but only 66% of clients at drug treatment centers, 57% of drug related emergency room visits, and 45% of drug related deaths.
  • Caucasian youths (12-17) are considerably more likely to traffic and use drugs, especially cocaine and heroin, but “despite higher drug use and sales by Caucasian Illinois teens, African American youth make up 15.3% of Illinois’ youth population, 59% of youth arrested for drug crimes, 85.5% of youth automatically transferred to adult court, 88% of youth imprisoned for drug crimes and 91% of youth admitted to state prison”. Statistics regarding Latinos follow a similar pattern; with Caucasians have the fewest number of arrests etc.
  • African Americans and then Latinos are more likely to be stopped, ticketed and have their vehicles searched than Caucasians.
  • As of 2001 there were nearly 20,000 more African American males incarcerated in the Illinois’ state prison system than were enrolled in the state’s public universities.
  • In 2003, 33,000 adults and juveniles were on parole and 45,000 in custody. Of this group, 94% are male, 63% are African American, 36% are Caucasian and 11% are Latino.
  • In Cook County in 2000 about one in five African American men in the 20s was either in jail, prison or parole, compared to 1 in 104 Caucasian men and 1 in 26 Latino men.
  • African Americans and Latinos are not only over represented in the criminal justice system but are also more likely to be the victim of crimes and live in areas destabilized by violence, drugs, and theft.
  • The violent crime rate in the lowest opportunity communities is seven times that of the highest opportunity, and non-violent crimes occur at slightly half the rate in the highest opportunity communities than it does in the lowest opportunity communities.^
  • African American men are most likely to be crime victims of both violent crimes (61%) and property crimes (42%).
  • African American men are the most likely to be the victims of homicide.
  • In 2001, of all racially motivated hate crimes, 85% were against people of color, 72% motivated by anti-African American sentiment.

 
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In collaboration with the Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University Chicago