How Prevalent is Racism in the Criminal System?

This week I went on a field trip with my American Studies class to see an adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son. In the play, Bigger Thomas, a black chauffeur of a rich white family, accidentally kills the daughter of his employer while trying to keep her quiet. Due to racism in the criminal justice system in court, Bigger feels forced to run or most likely be wrongfully tried with the rape and intentional murder of the girl.  

After watching this play I wondered how a modern-day Bigger Thomas would feel after the same event. Would he feel compelled to run, or would he be able to trust our current criminal justice system? There is an overwhelming disproportion of blacks in america’s jails presently, but does this mean that they were all tried as equal?According the Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, there are more african americans in jail or on probation now, than there were slaves in 1850, 10 years before the Civil War. After reading this I wanted to find out whether an identical crime committed by a black and white person would yield the same verdict. Putting aside more petty crimes, I research statistics on the death penalty and the results were astounding. In a study conducted in Philadelphia by top researchers on race and capital punishment, it was found that you are almost 4 times more likely to receive the death penalty if you are black. This study was conducted with controls on the severity of the crime as well as the prior history of the criminal. However the conclusion is still very clear, blacks are still much more likely to sentenced to death than other races.

Some argue that social and environmental factors account for these skewed numbers. Statistics like 73% of african american kids are born out of wedlock are used to explain why it is more likely and or logical to commit criminal acts. However, these statistics do not address some of the issues with our current legal system. In all of the nation's counties that still use the death penalty, the Chief District Attorneys are 98% white with only 1% being african american. With this level of racial imbalance the chance of racially motivated sentences is significantly higher. Almost 75 years after Wright’s novel was written, one would think that we have progressed to a point where the trial of a criminal is the same, no matter the color of their skin.