Episode #37

Special 3-Part Series:

Criminal Justice: Jaw-Dropping Stats You Should Know About, Part 1

Welcome to the first installment of a 3-part series where Sara and Misasha cover topics such as DWB (driving while Black), eye-popping traffic-stop statistics, and an overview of our criminal justice system. You’ll even get to hear Sara rap!

Congratulations to Dear White Women Podcast, who was recently awarded “Best Episode” for the Inaugural Colorado Podcast Awards for the Crystal Echohawk episode!

“A big bias is a part of our criminal justice system today.” Sara

Show Highlights:

Sara and Misasha discuss the anxiety of being pulled over while driving.
You need to know your rights because if you don’t, you could be frisked, arrested, beat up, or worse.
Misasha covers your rights in a traffic stop, and what you should and should not do.
According to research based on 20 million traffic stops, Black people are almost twice as likely to be pulled over as White people, even though White people drive more, on average.
Black people are more likely to be searched following a stop.
Just by getting in a car, a Black driver has about twice the odds of being pulled over and about four times the odds of being searched than White people.
They’re more likely to be searched despite the fact that they’re less likely to be found with contraband as a result of those searches.
The 2013 Justice Department study found that Black and Latino drivers were more likely to be searched once they have been pulled over.
About 2% of White motorists are searched compared to 6% of Black drivers and 7% of Latinos.
In 2015, the Charleston Post & Courier looked at incidences in which police stopped motorists but didn’t issue a citation. These are called pretext stops and suggest that the officer was profiling the motorist as a possible drug courier or suspected the motorist of other crimes.
After adjusting for population, Black people in nearly every part of their state were significantly more likely to be the subject of these stops.
In 2017, a study of 4 1/2 million traffic stops by the 100 largest police departments in North Carolina found that Black people and Latinos were more likely to be searched than White people, even though searches of white motorists were more likely than the others to turn up contraband.
Criminal justice is a big issue in the 2020 election with several candidates talking about specific reforms.
Sara and Misasha will be talking more in future episodes on what the President and the office of the President have the power to do regarding criminal justice and what they need Congress for.
Once you have a basic understanding of the criminal justice system, it’s easier to understand why this is so important for the upcoming election.
The criminal justice system has 3 components that work together to enforce the rule of law:
- Law enforcement
- The courts
- The correctional facilities
The criminal justice system operates at the local level, the state level, and the federal level.
Law enforcement works to prevent crime, courts strive to enact justice once a crime has been committed, and correction focuses on retribution and rehabilitation.
Misasha describes the hierarchy within the state and federal levels and delves into each separate branch.
Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff is a scientist who studies how our minds learn to associate Blackness, crime, and misperceived Black children as older than they actually are. He also studies police behavior and knows that every year, one in five adults in the United States will come in contact with law enforcement. Out of this number, about a million are targeted for police use of force. If you’re Black, you’re 2 to 4 times more likely to be targeted for that force than if you’re White.
The US Corrections System stands alone as the largest system of its type in the world. Though home to less than 5% of the world’s population the US holds nearly 25% of the world’s prisoners, which is the highest global per capita rate incarceration.
Parole, probation, community service, and recidivism.
Sara shares information on two organizations that are working to help people who are re-entering society from prison.
Along with corrections and our criminal justice system, it’s also important to consider tribal law.
Federally-recognized Native American tribes possess a form of sovereign rule that preserves the inherent right of each tribe to form their own government, make and enforce civil and criminal law, collect taxes, and establish and regulate tribal citizenship.
Native American reservations have more than 90 correctional facilities.