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Patterns of Discrimination in Police Agencies

Discrimination is a difference based on differential treatment of groups without reference
to an individuals behavior or qualifications. A few examples of employment discrimination will
illustrate the point a bit. Until the 1960s, most southern police departments did not hire African
American officers. The police departments that did hire African American officers came with
stipulations. They hired you, but you could not arrest Caucasians. In the Northern police
departments, they did not allow African Americans to work in neighborhoods where Caucasians
resided. These are the types of practices which represent discrimination. They showed differential
treatment based on the race of the individual. During the same time, airlines did not hire males as
flight attendant. They only allowed females to work as flight attendants. This was a difference in
treatment based on gender. They did not look at the qualifications of the individual first.
Today in the police agencies, criminal justice system, and so on there are several different
forms of discrimination patterns. Those discrimination patterns include but are not limited to
institutionalized discrimination, contextual discrimination, and individual acts of discrimination.
Institutionalized discrimination involves disparities in outcomes that result from established
policies. These policies do not directly involve race. As D.E Georges-Abeyie explains, The key
issue is result, not intent. Institutionalized racism is often the legacy of overt racism, of de facto
practices that often get codified, and thus sanctioned by de jure mechanisms (Walker, Spohn, &
Delone, , p. 29). Some people just may say that there institutionalized racism in law enforcement
and others may say that its not the agency itself but some individuals who work for it. While there
are some officers who go into law enforcement with racist views, it is not typical. We have not
only moved several decades past where racist views were very common, we have also gained
intolerance for racism and anything near it. Today, the minorities have supporters who are very
strong and very vocal about what they believe in. Sometimes something can take place between

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law enforcement and a minority, and the incident may have nothing to do with race, but the
supporters will make it seem as if it definitely was.
The federal government and federal law state that there is zero tolerance for racism and
where racism even appears to exist, they will take action. Some states have laws with almost the
same effects. Some officers that have views concerning criminal behavior of some minorities
worked in an area where in reality; there was a disproportional amount of minorities involved with
crime or other disturbances. It is a definite fact that in some areas, certain members of a minority
group are responsible for greater crimes that other groups. If law enforcement agency brought
this to attention, this does not make the agency racist. What is common amongst some members
of law enforcement is a generally negative view of society in some ways. It's most certainly
understandable how this can occur, and it's a combination of both past stressful situations
experienced and continual regular contacts with certain types of people. This creates a perceived
reality for a person in these circumstances. The bottom line is most officers do their job the best
they know how and don't base decisions on race. Even if someone has viewpoints less favorable
toward any given group, that doesn't mean they actually make official decisions based on that.
Contextual discrimination is discrimination found in particular contexts or circumstances.
This is an example, certain regions, particular crimes, or special victim-offender relationships.
There are several examples of contextual discrimination in the criminal justice system. Racial
profiling involves discrimination in the context of traffic enforcement. An example of racial
profiling would be an African American male driving a ford crown vic car with tinted windows,
flashy paint, big rims, and loud music. Hes driving in an area where wealthy Caucasians are
known to live. He isnt bothering anyone but all of a sudden hes pulled over by the police officer
and immediately snatched out of the car and put into handcuffs. The officer tells him that his car is
going to be searched for drugs. At the end of it all, no drugs was found, the driver had no criminal

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history, and he was a working man who worked for his home in that neighborhood. Why was he
pulled over? Was it because he is an African American male with a nice car, driving in a known
Caucasian neighborhood. The cops automatically targeted him because of his car and the fact that
he was African American driving in that area. Another example of contextual discrimination in the
criminal justice system is when dealing with the death penalty. The odds of an African American
receiving the death penalty for murdering a Caucasian are always higher than a Caucasian
receiving the death penalty for murdering an African American. It also appears that drug
enforcement has a much heavier impact on African Americans and Hispanics than routine police
work does (Walker, Spohn, & Delone, , p.29).
Individual acts of discrimination involve those carried out by particular justice officials. An
example of this would be where one police officer is unfair while making arrests, whereas other
officers in the department are always fair. Another example would be where in the courts, one
judge is known to give everyone a harsh sentence no matter their crime and other judges in the
same courts sentence individuals the way that they are supposed to be sentenced based on their
crimes and the findings of the judge. These acts are discriminatory acts, but they do not represent
normal patterns or how the criminal justice system operates as one. Today, there are always
individual acts of discrimination by police officers occurring. Some officers target individuals just
because they may have had a negative encounter with them in the past or because of how they
look, etc. Police officers tend to target African Americans and Hispanics more than they do any
other race. They target these two mainly when it involves drugs.
Pure justice is where there is no discrimination at any time or place in the criminal justice
system. As stated in learning team As discussion, pure justice cant be 100% followed through
with. There is no way that there will never be any type of discrimination at any time or place in the
criminal justice system. There are just too many individuals with different viewpoints on certain

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things. Yes, they are to keep their personal views and opinions at home and not bring them to
work especially when in the criminal justice system, on a jury for example. When deciding the
innocence or guilt of someone, a member of the jury is bound to base their decisions off their own
personal views of the person and off of their own feelings about the crime. No one may know it,
but its bound to happen. Others follow the facts and let the facts determine their decision. An
example of this would be in the George Zimmerman case. There was a juror that came out and
said even though they felt in their hearts that George Zimmerman belonged in jail, they simply
could not put him in jail based on the evidence and the fact that they were following the Florida
laws.
Institutionalized discrimination, contextual discrimination, individual acts of
discrimination, and pure justice all are different in their own way. No one type of discrimination is
the same as another, other than the fact that they are all a type of discrimination. When it comes to
pure justice and those three discrimination patterns, pure justice does not fit in. Reason being is
because those are discriminatory patterns and pure justice is where there is no discrimination at
any time or any place within the criminal justice system. Institutionalized, contextual, and
individual acts of discrimination all take place within the criminal justice system and police
agencies on a daily basis; so how could there be pure justice? There cant and isnt any because
discrimination is all around and within the criminal justice system and police agencies rather
individuals see it or not.

References
Walker, S., Spohn, C., & Delone, M. (). The Color of Justice, Race, Ethnicity and Crime in
America (5th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.