The Criminal Justice System and Our Multicultural Society

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The criminal justice system and our multicultural society
The efficiency of criminal justice system relies on the fairness to have the fate of the people.
However, in a culturally diverse nation like the United States, it is possible that the cultural
adversity of the country can work against the idea of unbiased and fair justice system.
There are a lot of people who hate jury duty, but it can be considered as the most common ways
in which the ordinary citizens interact with criminal justice system. The parts of the criminal
justice system include the police, prisons and the courts. The main objective behind the criminal
justice system in the United States is due to the people of the country safe, ensure that their voice
is heard in the courts and to keep the convicted felons, separate from the ordinary citizens.
However, the three parts of the criminal justice system deal with these tasks differently. As is the
case with any other system having various parts that are operated by different people, sometimes
there can be problems due to the reason that the individuals may vary on how they are going to
process and act on the information.
Effect of cultural concerns and influences: there are several different forms of the adversity but
in the present work, the focus is going to be on cultural diversity and its impact on the criminal
justice system. Persons who have come from different cultures and have different values, faiths
and beliefs live in the United States (Alpert and Dunham, 1999). There are several ways in which
the adversity can be an asset. Diverse perspectives allow for the adoption of a number of

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approaches that can be used for solving problems, in developing and testing new ideas and
cultural expressions like music and art. One reason behind the robust development of the policy
of free speech in the United States is the promotion of communication between the people
having different experiences (Baldus, Woodworth, and Pulaski, 1990).
Social diversity and multi-culturalism can be seen more in case of the criminal justice system as
compared to the rest of the society. For instance, in case of race the African-Americans face rate
of incarceration that is nearly six times as compared to the whites. As a result, only 6% of
Caucasian males have to go to the prison. On the other hand, there are 32% chances in case of
African-American males of going to prison. This chance is 17% in case of Hispanic males.
While the African-Americans represent only 13% of the population of the United States, they
represent 44% of the convicted offenders at the federal level. There are some states where the
African-Americans are incarcerated for offenses related with drugs, up to 57 times more as
compared to the Caucasians.
Two reasons are present due to which it becomes significant fo those working in the criminal
justice system to understand the effect of multicultural differences on the system. First of all,
when a particular group of people is alienated from a particular system as a result of its
disparities, the distrust of such a group with the system is likely to increase. Systemic racial
disparities can be linked with the communities of color, along with their distress in the criminal
justice system of the United States. Secondly, it is also necessary that there should be an
awareness regarding social differences in order to make sure that there is a harmonious
environment in the workforce of criminal justice system (Beck and Tolnay, 1995).
There are some police forces and the communities that have prevalent minority cultures that may
offer diverse city training. An example in this regard can be given of the New York City, where