Race and Criminal Justice

Reading these articles on criminal justice, I can somewhat see a connection to what we discussed earlier in the semester about how the preoccupation with race basically evolved to take the attention off of social status or SES. Based on the statistics presented in the articles it does seem that the criminal justice system is racially discriminatory when it is actually the social statuses that are being divided. The majority of the people committing crimes are not the one’s being caught and convicted. This is majorly because they are of a higher SES.
It’s not purely the SES though, it all comes down to the environments that people of different socioeconomic statuses live in and the different privileges they may or may not have. People of high SES can afford to live in more rural areas where they are less likely to get caught committing crimes. In these types of environments crimes such as drug use are committed behind closed doors, and therefore nobody sees them and they don’t get caught, and nobody expects it so nobody looks for it. On the other hand, those who live in the poor environments are constantly getting arrested and convicted, why? because the majority of the people in these environments commit the crimes out in the open and therefore are more likely to get caught.
Due to these disparities, there is much inequality between the races that are caught and convicted of certain crimes. The majority of the people in the middle and upper classes are white while the majority of the poor people are minorities, such as Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. So, there you have the reason for the disparity, but to me that still doesn’t really answer why. Why is it that poor minorities get more severe convictions than middle class whites for the same offenses? Why is it that crime is always looked for in poor urban areas, yet not really thought to happen in rich or semi-rich suburban areas? It all comes back to race. As much as people try to say that discrimination and racism are disappearing ,and people try to say that they don’t see color; I just don’t believe it. One is always going to see color whether it is conscious or subconscious, and one is always going to make judgments based on race, and because of this you get these huge inequalities in the educational system, the criminal justice system, and the job force.
Going back to the criminal justice system, one way to fix these inequalities can be to first get rid of the 3 strikes system. To me, this system isn’t fair for anybody because all the weight of one’s sentence is purely based on if one commits a third offence regardless of what it is. I remember reading in one of the articles that a man was sentenced to 20-25 years because he stole a slice of pizza, but it was his third offence. This system doesn’t use the severity of the crimes as the basis for the sentence and that’s where I think the problem is. The three strike system should not be used at all and all sentences should be based on the crime itself regardless of race, SES, or residence. Getting rid of this system would bring us one step closer to a more equal criminal justice system, but in the end, I don’t think there is ever going to be perfect equality between races in anything.

The Values of Cultural Pluralism

The United States prides itself on being made up of many different cultures from all over the world. In my experience, most people in the US talk about how important knowing more than one language is. This makes me wonder why most 2^nd and 3^rd generation citizens only speak English. What is it about our society that makes us lose a little bit of our culture with each passing generation? I know that my grandmother grew up speaking German at home and English at school. So, as most children in her age group she grew up bilingual. When my dad was growing up, my grandmother spoke English to him, although she still spoke German to her parents. By the time I was born, all of the German language and culture of my family has been lost, save for one recipe for German sand cookies that we make every Christmas.

I have noticed the same story is prevalent in my boyfriend’s family history. His grandparents moved to the US from Mexico when his mom was 8. They spoke Spanish to their children, but the kids went to an English speaking school. His mother is fluent in Spanish and English and still speaks primarily Spanish with her mother, but she never spoke it with her kids. Now other than a few years of high school Spanish and a few phrases heard from his grandmother, my boyfriend doesn’t really know much about his family’s culture or language.

I feel like both of these stories are a good example of the way that the U.S. lives up to the Anglo-Conformity Assimilation Theory. People are so worried about becoming “Americanized” that they forget the rich cultures and languages of their roots. In a country that is starting to depend so much on a global market, one would think we would work harder to keep some of these languages going. I understand that since the US is made up of people from all over the world we need a universal language, but what I don’t understand is why people have to choose English over their family’s native tongue when it could be easily continued if spoken at home.

I think that the U.S. should start working towards achieving a more open and accepting culture. If we were to work towards Cultural Pluralism perhaps we would not lose all of the customs and traditions our citizens carry from around the world. I think this goal would make our country more able to compete on a global level by helping us communicate with more people around the world and by improving our understanding of the cultures and people we work with. Employers prefer people who speak more than one language and who have traveled or lived outside of the United States. Individuals with a global perspective and experience working with a wide variety of people have a leg up.

On a personal level I think that Cultural Pluralism would help people appreciate what their family has gone through to get where they are. It would also help people to not only pride themselves on being an American, but a citizen of the world. In a country of people from all over the world, we should embrace the cultures of our ancestors.

The Linguistic Conflict in the United States

With the increasing amounts of immigrants coming to the United States, the linguistic conflict definitely begins to play a very large role. The real question is: Should immigrants be required to learn the English language while they are living in the United States?
An article in the Washington Post made a great point: immigrant English proficiency is associated with higher earnings and therefore higher tax payments, lower use of welfare programs and increased educational and economic improvement. All of these things would positively affect the United States therefore one could say that English instruction for immigrants could be seen as an investment.
When immigrants are deficient in English, the time it takes for them to get settled and integrated and accustomed to life in America increases. Instead of just focusing on trying to start a new life in a new place, they are also faced with the burden of trying to learn English.
I do agree that immigrants should try and learn English, not for the sake of American citizens already living here in the United States, bur for themselves so that they are able to better succeed. I was talking to a friend about this topic and she thinks that immigrants need to know English basically in order to survive here in American and to build a good life for themselves. Although I think that immigrants should learn English, I don’t think that its something that should be required of anyone. Requiring someone to speak a certain language seems to go against some of the foundations of which America was built on. People should be able to speak the language they choose but it would probably benefit someone living here to speak English.
I do not think that we can expect immigrants to learn English without giving them a means to do so. Immigrants coming to this country already do not have much money and most are struggling to build a life here. Most immigrants probably do not have the means to pay for English classes. I think that the citizens of American should step up and try to help the immigrants who come to this country and who work hard to contribute. I used to volunteer at a school here in Madison that was composed of predominantly of Latino families. Most of the students that attended the school spoke English but their parents did not. Volunteers set up and ran English classes for these parents at night after school and other volunteers helped their children with homework. Like most immigrants, these parents wanted to learn English and until this program was started, they were unable. I know it is difficult to find volunteers to create and run this type of a program but it would be a way to help immigrants learn English without a lot of Federal funding.
As a senior graduating in nursing, I know I am going to have many patients that don’t speak English. I have taken Spanish in college and want to continue taking Spanish throughout my career so that I can better care for my patients. It is not just up to the immigrants to learn English. We Americans, who have the means to help and learn other languages, need to step up as well.

The Poverty Cycle

Almost every time I drive away from Madison’s West Towne Mall I see someone holding a sign saying something along the lines of, “No job, No food, No home, No money, please help.” And every time I witness this it makes me feel uncomfortable and almost angry. I think to myself, instead of wasting your time standing out there embarrassing yourself, why don’t you go look for a job?

After learning about the culture of poverty argument however, I can begin to look at poverty with a different mindset. The culture of poverty argument suggests that the poor do not share the same value system as the “middle class.” People are provided with different levels of resources to climb out of poverty but this does not necessarily correspond with making a certain amount of money or income. There are many other dimensions involved with getting out of poverty such as upbringing, support system, emotional and spiritual resources and so forth. Those people holding those signs in front of the mall may have never been even encouraged to find a job or an education. The culture in which a person is raised has a huge impact on their available resources, which can result in being trapped in their poverty.

The term “street family” refers to a type of family that struggles with money, does not partake in mainstream values, and where the parents are not typically involved in their children’s lives. Therefore, children who are brought up in this culture/environment do not have financial support from their parents nor do they have the discipline needed to make something of themselves or the encouragement to succeed in beating poverty. In the recent movie “Precious,” Clarice is a child who is stuck in a “street family” with little hope for the future. She is entrenched in an extremely unsupportive family situation without money and poor education. This story is very inspirational because she is able to rise above poverty but only because she gets support from people other than her family, such as teachers. It is this lack of resources, usually pass on through families that leads the poor to focus on the present and not their future.

The culture of poverty becomes a culture of survival in which decisions must be based on the present moment. This population becomes so accustomed to their culture and living environment, they believe there is no way to get ahead so money should be enjoyed and spent when available. The reason many people become homeless may be because they have never saved any of their money in the past and were able to get by so why should they now. This however leaves them trapped, standing at a street corner asking strangers for money until they spend that and need to find another way to attain it. In contrast, middle class families tend to focus on the future and try to plan their expenditures.. For example, I know that I only make around $100.00 a week at my job , so I try not to spend more than $50.00 a week in order to save my money. I learn these values from the culture in which I was raised and seeing my parents save their money. These two opposite mindsets about money which evolve from one’s culture, drastically contribute to one’s position in the poverty level.

When I see someone holding a sign asking for a handout I know not to judge them for their actions because they did not have the same up-bringing as me and were not provided with the same financial resources, but is there really no way out for them? It is crazy to think that this cycle of poverty just keeps repeating itself from generation to generation while only a few lucky people manage to escape. If this is the case, it will be extremely difficult to change this culture system. Personal awareness of these cultural differences may be the best way to begin to implement a change.