Research Design Paper: Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System

Answer

Research Design Paper: Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System

Introduction

The statistics on the racial disparities in the US criminal justice system are not only staggering but also revealing of the way the various players in the criminal justice system are biased towards certain races. The populations in the US state prisons shows that in the states of Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, more than half of the population in these prisons are composed of black (Nowotny, 2015). Additionally, according to Burch (2015), Maryland tops as in its central jails, 72% of those incarcerated are African Americans. Comparing the whites and the African Americans, the incarceration of African Americans is 5.1 times that of the whites in the states of Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin (Clemons, 2014). The war on drugs has been an area where the communities of color are discriminated against despite the fact that the whites and blacks use drugs at similar rates. Mauer (2004) opines that the police, the prosecutors, and even the judges have perpetuated the profiling of individuals based on their colors. Revealing these disparities is critical in contributing to the body of knowledge in existence and thereby forcing the criminal justice system to be fair and just to all people irrespective of their races.

The proposed research will aim at answering the following central question:-

Does race have any influence in the criminal justice system?

Literature Review

Racial discrimination and is the key reason as to why most of the people of color are kept in prisons. Specifically, Clemons (2014) opines that one in every three black men expects to be incarcerated in their lifetimes. These statistics are staggering compared to one in six Latino males as well as one in 17 white men (Burch, 2015). The reasons for these differences in races are on a variety of factors. According to the study by Nowotny (2015), particular factors for the disparities are related to policies in place as well as patterns of offending. However, it can also be the case that the bias is implicit or the combination of all the factors. Irrespective of the reasons for the disparities, it is critical to note that the consequences are profound to both the individuals and their communities. Specifically, Clemons (2014) posit that the families of the victims are left without their breadwinners while the state is deprived of productive men and women. The racial disparities in incarceration arise from several circumstances. One of those is that of the high rate of black incarceration coupled with low levels of white incarceration (Roh and Robinson, 2009). The variations in offending based on races are some of the circumstances. However, bias in decision-making in the entire criminal justice system is also a viable factor. Moreover, Burch (2015) states that cases of poverty, education outcomes, and criminal history could also be driving factors towards the disparities.

According to the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), black Americans are likely to have their cars searched. Additionally, the police are three times likely to stop black drivers and less likely to be informed of the reasons for being stopped. Moreover, according to Baker (2010), the black Americans are more likely to be arrested for drug and substance abuse. Specifically, police arrest the black American suspects twice the rate of the whites. According to the Federal data, this is despite the facts that the blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate and sell them at comparable levels to blacks or higher rates. While awaiting trial, the blacks are more likely to be jailed even considering the seriousness of the offenses as well as the prior record of suspects (Nowotny, 2015). The effects of the biased racial incarceration are to disrupt the family life as well as the employment of defendants and even make it tough for them to prepare a defense. More surprisingly, the black respondents are more likely to be offered plea deals especially those involving jail sentences compared to the whites. Specifically, blacks are 13 percent more likely to be offered prison deals compared to the whites (Mauer, 2004). Such incidences show that many disparities exist in the criminal justice system regarding the investigation, prosecution, and even sentencing.

Approach

The primary approach for the proposed research is the interpretative one. This method has an idiographic focus offering insights into how a particular person in a given context and circumstance will make sense of a particular phenomenon (Lewis, 2015). As an approach to psychological research, the interpretative approach relates to personal experiences including life events. The importance of this approach is that unlike other methods, it contains not only psychosocial and explanatory elements but also the demographic components. The plan is ideal for the proposed research, as it would seek to evaluate the views of individuals on racial bias in the criminal justice system, and the causes and effects. The inductive process will be deployed to formulate concepts emerging from the various data on racial bias in the criminal justice system.

The purpose of the study will be explorative. In this case, the researcher would aim at exploring the data and information between a span of time on the racial bias that has been witnessed in the criminal justice system. The choice of exploratory approach is because researchers would delve into the study with an open mind. Additionally, various elements of racial bias will be discussed via the deployment of an explorative approach as opposed to descriptive research, which serves to provide information on a particular topic. The research will be informed by the critical race theory (CRT). This theory, according to Lewis (2015), presupposes that the concepts of white supremacy and racial power have been maintained over time and the existing laws have played a significant role in this. Additionally, according to CRT, racism is a part of the American systems and societies, and the law adversely affects people of color more than it adversely affects the whites.

Methods

The proposed research will deploy a qualitative research methodology in the quest to answer the research question. The study will use data from various secondary sources mainly reports on crime and the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). More specifically, data will be obtained from the electronic databases of the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC). The deployment of qualitative methodologies has several advantages and disadvantages. Some of the benefits of deploying the approach are that it is cheap. Specifically, it does not involve resources, such as those in quantitative methodology. For instance, the use of secondary sources ensures that no primary data is collected unlike in quantitative methodology whereby the researchers have to spend a lot in data collection. Additionally, it saves time as information is assembled from secondary sources. However, the disadvantage lies on the credibility of the secondary sources used. Specifically, failure to do a proper evaluation will lead to incorrect conclusion considering that some of the sources are based on biased information and hence affecting their validity and reliability.

Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis refers to the entity analyzed in a research study. Specifically, it refers to the “who” as well as the “what” being studied (Lewis, 2015). In the proposed study, the unit of analysis will be a social artifact. In specific, the researcher will focus on the aspect of racial bias and discrimination in the criminal justice system. The rates of arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing for the people of color will be compared to those of the whites and the disparities established. The information from such disparities will then be deployed in the establishment of the reasons behind the racial bias as well as the effects of the bias. Implementing the different treatment strategy will aid in the examination of the observed disparities via the use of the aggregates as well as the individuals’ vested will. In the deployment of the critical approach, the data from the secondary sources will be evaluated with the aim of establishing whether the racial differences in the criminal justice system are based on the races of the police officers, investigators, and judges or other factors. Additionally, according to Lewis (2015), using the unit of analysis will tell whether the stop and search rates for the blacks compared to the whites result from statistical discrimination or preference based discrimination. As a result, a theory will be derived from such evidence.

Setting/Participants

The study participants will be selected from the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC). A random sampling process will be used in the selection of the study participants. In this methodology, various advantages can be established. Specifically, all the members of the target population have an equal chance of being selected for the interviews. Additionally, the sampling method serves to eliminate any sampling bias (Lewis, 2015). Specifically, the fact that is no predetermined participants makes sure that the study and the data collected from the respondents are not cooked, and that the research is objective. The disadvantage is, however, that avoiding bias is hard and that such sampling technique involves time and money.

Methods Selected

The first method of data collection will be the literature review. Specifically, data will by visiting several websites, which contain data on the rates of arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing of the whites compared to the blacks, and thereby make conclusions as to the existence of bias. The websites that will be visited include that of the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), as well as Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC). The choice of these websites is based on the quality of data that they provide. Some of the websites are not reliable, and the information they contain might not be entirely accurate. As such, using the sites mentioned above will offer quality information, which will lead to the right conclusions.

The choice of the literature review as one of the qualitative methods of data collection brings about various advantages, which are more than the disadvantages. One of the benefits is that literature review is time-saving considering that the researchers do not have to go to the fields and collect primary data. Additionally, the researchers have an opportunity to compare massive volumes of evidence and thereby lead to the right conclusions. The various studies conducted by other authors will be analyzed through literature review as well as the application of secondary sources of data. Moreover, the disadvantage is the researchers have no confidence in the secondary sources considering that other people conducted the studies. Additionally, the primary researchers can only know the reliability and validity of secondary information. As a result, the conclusion from auxiliary information might not entirely be factual.

Interviews will be the second method, which will be deployed in the collection of data for the proposed research. Specifically, the interviews will be conducted on the individuals from the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC). The interview questions will be structured to ensure that no time is wasted during the data collection using the qualitative method. The participants of the interview will be selected through random sampling. Specifically, the participants will be chosen randomly at the rate of 10% of the study population in the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC). Some of the questions that will be asked in the individual interviews are whether the participants are aware of the racial bias in the criminal justice system. Additionally, the researchers will seek to enquire that if they (participants) are aware, their views on the reasons for the existence of this bias.

The use of interviews in the collection of data from the research will present various advantages. One of those is that the researchers will obtain detailed information about the personal feelings as well as the opinions and perceptions of the participants (Brinkmann, 2014). Unlike other methods such as surveys, interviews offer face-to-face conversations between the researchers and the residents. Additionally, the individual interviews will provide an opportunity to the researchers to ask questions that are more detailed and receive extensive answers. The importance of this is that the right conclusions will be derived from the data. Moreover, according to Brinkmann (2014), the individual words of the residents are recorded hence making the interview and the research in general exhibit a higher degree of reliability and credibility. The fact that the research will deploy structured questions will ensure that the researcher does not deviate from the aims of the study. However, the disadvantages of the use of structured questions are that there will be no room for additional information, which extrapolates the research.

The selection of the two qualitative methods of data collection was based on various justifications. Specifically, according to Lewis (2015), using multiple methods is critical to having a wide variety of information, which will be deployed in making appropriate conclusions. Additionally, two data collection methods lead to increased validity of the study as data will be obtained from various sources and not just one. The combination of secondary sources in the form of literature review and primary ones in the form of structured interviews will be critical in the collection of quality data that will lead to scientific conclusions (Brinkmann, 2014).

Ethics

Various ethical considerations will be considered on information gathering especially involving human subjects. Ethical considerations are those standards of conduct that serve to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. As such, Ritchie et al. (2013) posit the purpose of the ethical considerations in research is to avoid unacceptable behaviors by the researchers and promote pleasant ones. The importance of ethical considerations is to prevent the fabrication of information and the falsification of data. As a result, it is critical in the honest and truthful pursuit of knowledge and truth, which is the primary and core purpose of any research study. Observing ethical considerations and behaviors in research is essential in developing an environment rich in trust, mutual respect, and accountability of the team of researchers (Ritchie et al., 2013). For the public to support the researchers, they must be sure that all the ethical standards have been adhered to and that none is violated.

In the current research, one of the ethical considerations will be informed consent. Specifically, the research participants will be required to tender their acceptance to participate in the study. Signing acceptance forms will show that they were not coerced to participate and that they agreed to the research terms (Ritchie et al., 2013). Additionally, the privacy of data will be the second consideration. All data collected from the participants will not be shared and will only be deployed for the research and not any other extraneous purposes. Any information gathered will be treated with the highest degree of confidentiality and will not be revealed unless with the permission of the respondents. The human rights of the participants will be given much consideration, and any conflicts of interests will be avoided in the research. Any health and safety standards for the respondents will be ethical considerations necessary for this research. The effect of considering these issues will be to influence the integrity of the research positively.

Additional Considerations

Apart from ethical considerations, other factors will be related to the respect for intellectual property. In this case, any of the articles and websites used in the review of literature will be properly cited to avoid plagiarism and any breach of intellectual property rights of the authors (Ritchie et al., 2013). The aspect of non-discrimination will be considered. In this case, the researchers will ensure that no participant is discriminated and that the sampling method is transparent and just. The honesty and objectivity of the research will be aspects to be considered to ensure that the research gains credence. Moreover, the study will examine the laws of the land and ensure that they are complied with to avoid any legal challenges.

Conclusion

Various sets of data show racial disparities in the criminal justice system from the actions of the police in stop and search as well as the investigative officers, prosecutors, and the judges in the sentencing process. Information shows that people of color experience immense discrimination compared to the whites. Specifically, the blacks are more likely to be arrested and charged than the whites. The proposed research will aim to establish whether race influences decisions made in the criminal justice system. A qualitative methodology will be deployed with data being collected through a review of secondary sources and structured interviews. The results will be used to create a theory as to what constitutes the racial disparities in arrest, prosecution, and sentencing processes in the US.