Discrimination in Criminal Justice Flashcards

A new academic study that builds on Washington Post research
into fatal shootings by police has found that unarmed black men were
shot and killed last year [2015] at disproportionately high rates and
that officers may be biased in how they perceive threats...

Lowery, Wesley. "Study: Unarmed Black Men Killed by Police at
Higher Rate." Washington Post. 08 Apr. 2016: A.3.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.

Salt Lake City police have refused to release officer's body
cam videos of the Saturday [February 27, 2016] shooting of a
17-year-old old immigrant now in critical condition, despite
protesters' calls to reform accountability...

Jackson, Molly. "Salt Lake City Black Teen Shot: Police Refuse
to Release Body Cam..." Christian Science Monitor. 01
Mar. 2016: n.p. SIRS. Web. 20 May 2016.

SYDNEY--An 11-year-old boy charged with murder has come to epitomize
Australia's great shame: the plight of its aboriginal citizens, who
may be the most jailed people in the Western world.
The boy is one of the youngest people to be charged with murder in
Australia. He was part of a gang of seven or eight--boys, teenagers
and young men--who roamed the remote city of Perth late into the night
on Australia's national day, Jan. 26.
"If aboriginal families can be given stronger structures to
provide better support, then hopefully that will be an answer,"
said Jackie Huggins, the co-chair of the Change the Record Coalition.
"Strong families is what's needed. Hopefully, we can bring this
back within a generation."
Some legal experts and aboriginal leaders, including Huggins, say
they think the 11-year-old is too young to be charged with a serious
offense such as murder. In Australia, the age of
criminal responsibility is 10.

Patrick, A. Odysseus. "Aboriginal Australians, Especially the
Children, Imprisoned at High..." Washington Post. 06
Mar. 2016: A.15. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.

As police mostly ticketed minorities and judges refused to waive
fees, distrust and frustration rose - exploding in the aftermath of
the Brown killing, the investigation found.
In response, the Missouri legislature capped at 12.5 percent the
court's share of Ferguson's municipal budget. That has added to the
city's budget pressures. Neither the legislature nor the governor has
proposed new ways for cities to raise money, leaving city officials
with few options.
"Money is definitely a part of the equation" for
municipalities with poor relations between police and citizens, says
Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police
Organizations in Alexandria, Va.

Jonsson, Patrik. "Why Some Sympathize with Ferguson,
Despite Justice Department Lawsuit." Christian Science
Monitor. 10 Feb. 2016: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20
May 2016.

The City of Ferguson, Mo., where the 2014 fatal police
shooting of an unarmed black teenager sparked riots and a national
scrutiny of policing practices, has agreed to implement reforms set
forth by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
"It may be premature for us to attempt to gauge
success at this time. Though I can tell you that the agreement has
been met as a welcome step in the right direction towards improving
police and community relations," Ball writes.

Thomson, Jason. "Ferguson Police Reform: Will It Work?."
Christian Science Monitor. 28 Jan. 2016: n.p. SIRS
Issues Researcher.. Web. 20 May 2016.

MIAMI -- Black drivers in Florida were stopped and given tickets for
not wearing seatbelts nearly twice as often as whites who drove on the
state's roads in 2014, according to a report by the American Civil
Liberties Union released Wednesday.
"The overticketing of any community in ways that aren't
justified by regular police behavior raises red flags and can cause
serious harms," said Nusrat Choudhury, a lawyer with the
A.C.L.U.'s racial justice program and an author of
the report. "Communities feel stigmatized not because of what
they have done but who they are. And it burdens people with fines that
can be hard to pay.

Alvarez, Lizette. "Florida Said to Ticket More Blacks on
Seatbelts." New York Times. 28 Jan. 2016: A.16. SIRS
Issues Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.

EAST HAVEN, CONN--Dennis Spaulding, a baby-faced "bully with a
badge," as the FBI called him, was in the middle of a raid
against newly arrived Ecuadorean immigrants when he made a costly
mistake. He arrested a priest.
"Under Bush, the Department of Justice took
the view that they could not force, or did not want to force, police
departments into court," said Stephen Rushin, a professor at the
University of Alabama School of Law and an expert on federal
enforcement of police reform. "Under the Obama
administration, they take the view that if a city
isn't willing to play ball, then the DOJ will go to court and force
that city to comply."
(A 'Hammer' for Policing the Police)

Phelps, Timothy M. "A 'Hammer' for Policing the Police."
Los Angeles Times. 26 Oct. 2015: A.1. SIRS Issues
Researcher.Web. 20 May 2016

TUCSON -- The federal checkpoints on highways near the Mexican
border, with trained dogs and expensive scanning equipment, are
supposed to stop drugs and immigrants without legal status from
heading north. But newly released complaints against United States
Customs and Border Protection paint a disquieting portrait of the
interactions between agents and many of those they stopped and searched.
"C.B.P.'s own records paint a disturbing picture of lawlessness
and impunity, in which the agency continually operates without any
regard for accepted best practices, and agents commit widespread
abuses knowing they won't be held accountable," Mr. Lyall said.
(Border Patrol Accused of Profiling and Abuse)

Santos, Fernanda. "Border Patrol Accused of Profiling
and Abuse." New York Times. 15 Oct. 2015: A.16. SIRS
Issues Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.

Racial profiling happens.It's a serious business and when it's clear
that a visible minority has been arrested or charged or held up for
public humiliation because of his race or ethnicity, opinion writers
should leap on it with all the requisite indignation, dudgeon and
umbrage they can muster. The trick is in knowing whether any racial
profiling actually took place, because sometimes everyone is just
doing their job. It's often a good idea to hold your fire until all
the facts are in. Trouble is, when the surface facts fit a politically
correct narrative, some progressive types can't resist the bait.

Kay, Barbara. "Seeing Islamophobia Everywhere."
National Post. 24 Sep. 2015: A.13. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.

The share of Hispanics receiving traffic citations from state police
has doubled in the last five years, even as the total number of
tickets written and total number issued to whites have dropped
significantly, according to Texas Department of Public Safety data on
non-commercial drivers.
"When things change rapidly, compared to the past, there
usually is something driving that sudden shift," Potter said.
"In this case it could be any number of things, but is likely at
least in part related to something happening with the policies or
practices associated with issuing warnings and citations.

Ura, Alexa, and Terri Langford. "Troopers Ticketing
Fewer Overall, but More Hispanics." Texas Tribune. 04
Sep. 2015: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 May 2016.