MIH514 - Cross-Cultural Perspectives Module 3 - Case Essay - 1

MIH514 - Cross-Cultural Perspectives Module 3 - Case - Essay Example the arrests made by the law enforcers and should one look at the actual picture, arrests are not indicators that the people arrested are the actual offenders (The Sentencing Project 2008). Moreover, based on the study, African Americans and Latinos are most likely incarcerated and in many instances receive longer sentence compared with their white counterparts. Statistics even show that African-Americans are often stopped and searched for contraband compared to their white counterparts. These are clear manifestations of racial disparity and clearly are not helping the society at large to deal with the real crime problems. Decision making bodies in the criminal justice system should make it a point that there should be no racial prejudice when dealing with criminal offenders, but instead the bail system results in higher rates of minorities being jailed before trial compared with whites in the same scenario. Minorities are also less likely to receive fair trial because of their â€Å"reduced access to defense counsel and community resources and treatment options† (The Sentencing Project 2008). Racial disparities can be seen in the following examples: The widely discussed phenomenon â€Å"driving while black†. Study reveals that whites are less likely to be stopped and searched for contraband by police while the minorities are often being stopped and questioned (The Sentencing Project 2008). While racial disparity is an issue in the criminal justice system, mental health services in the system is equally an important matter. The Council of State Governments Justice Center in a report says that 16.9% of adults in a sample of local jails are suffering from serious mental illness. The record shows that 14% of serious mental illnesses are found in men and 31% are found in women. According still to this report, if these rates were applied to 13 million jail admissions reported only in 2007, this would mean that every year there are 2 million bookings of a person who