After reading this article I was overwhelmed at how unfair our Judicial System seems to be. It appears that the discrepancy of your skin color plays a major role in the type of punishment received for a crime. I'd like to see some real facts proving that the white race is more drug free than the black or latino races. I strongly feel that nomatter what your race if you do the crime then you should do the time. I'm real curious to find out if blacks and latinos are easier targets.

Yes, and there is a right to be concerned. Remember just recently the Winston Salem Journal carried an ongoing story about Daryl Hunt, the African American who was imprisoned for 23 years for a crime he did not commit? He was convicted when he was 19 on a rape murder charge. All along the black community said he did not do it and that his color worked against him.
Even in the 90's they found his sperm did not match the sperm on the victim. Well, he was released last month from prison, a free man. A court decided that he did not commit the crime. HIs only crime was being 19, black, and running around with a bad crowd. Last month, after 20 some years he was relesased. How can he ever make up those years? what have we done?

Discrimination is such a huge problem. I work in retail and i hate to say this but blacks/lintinos/minorites are really sterotyped when it comes to theft and shoplifting. Its amazing to sit back and watch my coworkers follow a minority around a store thinking that they are going to shoplift because the color of their skin. It happens all the time. But if a well dressed white woman comes in with a huge bag/pocketbook they will not say a word to her and more than likely she is up to no good. Its not fair but it happens all the time.

Discrimination is still a huge problem in our society today. And even now whites are becoming discriminated against in some areas. I know that universities have to accept a certain amount of blacks and other cultures into their school, and a lot of times this means that maybe some of those white students that do work hard in school don't get accepted over a black person that didn't work so hard. I'm not saying that i am prejudice by any means, a lot of my friends are black. But i just wanted to bring this issue up to attention. what are some other's thoughts on this?!

I couldn't believe when I read those statistics, how so many Blacks and Latinos were in jail compared to Whites! The sad thing is they keep complaining that all our jails are over populated as well. I do believe that segregation is a big issue in society still today, maybe more so in the South because of the past. I know that I live in a small town where yes there is still today prejudice and it is mainly because of what people have heard or been taught at home. I don't think it should be that way either. I mean a person should judge for them selves whether a person is good or not and it should have nothing to do with Skin color! I mean it isn't just blacks either it seems to me that a lot of people have a prejudice about latinos as well without really knowing much about them or their culture to understand who they are. I think that we should not be looking to them to be our scapegoat out of everything but that if someone does something wrong then they should be punished. For the fact of prosecuting someone for a crime they didn't do, this can be prevented now-a-days b/c we are in the 21st century and have so many scientific inventions that can produce accurate information on whether a person for instance raped someone!! I believe the injustice needs to stop and that everyone needs to take a stand to pervent it by not judging a person by the outside but by what is inside and by learning about different cultures that we are clueless about, which would inable us to understand how and why people act or do things the way they do!

Maybe our law enforcement officier need more training in racial issues. Is there any research on this topic? Does this type training help?

i'm not trying to be mean by pointing this out, but it is a situation i think truly exists. plus, my spanish teacher is from mexico and we've talked about this kind of a thing before.

i definitely see how the numbers among jailed folks is definitely leaning towards the minorities. i can't say much for blacks because that probably is a result of racial profiling, racism, discrimination, etc... but i guess i just want to make a bit of defense for the judicial system. in some cases with latinos or hispanics, they end up incarcerated because they've actually done something wrong. i'm not saying they're bad for that. my spanish teacher has said before that sometimes these people who immigrate do so illegally. strike one. and then when they get here they don't even know or understand the rules here. strike two. i mean, for instance, there are always a lot of drug charges for latinos in america. but look at it from an outsiders perspective. stuff like pot isn't that big a deal in other countries and cultures. pot to some countries is just as common and accepted as alcohol is here. so even if in a case like this the latinos know the rules about drugs here, they might still not fully understand them from the culture and background they come from. so that's why they get arrested and put in jail.

i'm not denying that they're discriminated against. i did just want to point out that kind of example because latinos suffer from a major language and communication barrier, too.

just a point i wanted to make...

Sherry, i agree with you. i don't think our law enforement officers have been trained on how to deal with racial issuses.

I used to work at JCPenney and we were always told by our "white" manager to " look out for black males, they are the shoplifters." it makes me angry to think of all the other people who think the same way this man did.