Essay On Racial Disparities

Introduction
Racial disparities in the arrest of offenders, has long been a hotly debated issue in the US. Police arrest of minorities is a subject that continues to evoke heated debate. It is now widely acknowledged that minorities, especially African-Americans, are more likely to be arrested for minor offenses than whites. This is a matter of concern, not only because it leads to feelings of prejudice, but police arrest of minorities also leads to a pattern of racial profiling.
This paper discusses police arresting of minorities in the US, a topic that has drawn widespread public interest. The paper argues that there is a strong and undeniable link between racial factors and police arresting of minorities. Hence, the paper begins by examining the racial factor in police arresting. Thereafter, the paper reviews some of the well-documented reasons for discrepancies in arrest rates. Finally, the paper closes with a brief conclusion.
Racial Influence
According to Handout, racial origin often influences police decisions about making an arrest. In the case of suspected juvenile offenses, police tend to consider the demeanor of the suspect in deciding whether to make an arrest.
It seems that police often racially profile members of minority groups based on suspicions related to race. However, in discussing police arrest of minorities, it seems clear that police largely rely on patterns of reported crime, such as they have occurred over the years. At the same time, police also rely on their knowledge and experience regarding neighborhood crime, a pattern which strongly suggests that high-crime neighborhoods, in most cases, are inhabited my minorities. While this, by no means, should be interpreted as certification of minorities being more prone to crime than the white US population, it does help in understanding some of the factors that inform police arresting of