Socioeconomic Status
What is Socioeconomic Status
Socioeconomic Status is determined by various things, including education, occupation, income, poverty, and health. Your socioeconomic status determines your class.
Black people and other minorities are known to have lower socioeconomic statuses than their white counterparts.
Income & Occupation
Even though slavery has ended there is still a lot of racial discrimination. Minorities, such as Black and Hispanic people, usually live in the ghetto and have lower income than White people. For example, if you have two people applying for the same job with the same qualifications, but one has an African American sounding name and the other has a White sounding name most likely the person with White sounding name would get the job. That already puts the Black person at a disadvantage behind and the amount of times that happens adds up. Because there are more African Americans in prison, once they come out it is hard for them to find a well paying job, since they are restricted and called "ex-convict".
Education
After graduating from high school 43% of African American people are admitted in colleges but only 36% finish college compared to 60% of White people. A lot of times the family income in black families is so low that once a child graduates from or is still in high school they have to drop out and get a job to help out. They therefore do not attain the education needed to qualify for good jobs. A high school education doesn't get anyone far in the United States, which brings up the issue of poverty.
Poverty
When people don't have enough money to provide for their needs they sometimes have to steal to get what they need to survive. When you steal whether its food or money you can get caught and put in jail. Once you get put in prison for a small crime if you ever get convicted for a huge crime your sentencing would be harsher. That is the case for many African Americans. Usually if they grew up around stealing and cheating they will will take it into their adulthood. Instead of stealing food the person would be stealing expensive jewelry and cars.
Black people and other minorities are known to have lower socioeconomic statuses than their white counterparts.
Income & Occupation
Even though slavery has ended there is still a lot of racial discrimination. Minorities, such as Black and Hispanic people, usually live in the ghetto and have lower income than White people. For example, if you have two people applying for the same job with the same qualifications, but one has an African American sounding name and the other has a White sounding name most likely the person with White sounding name would get the job. That already puts the Black person at a disadvantage behind and the amount of times that happens adds up. Because there are more African Americans in prison, once they come out it is hard for them to find a well paying job, since they are restricted and called "ex-convict".
Education
After graduating from high school 43% of African American people are admitted in colleges but only 36% finish college compared to 60% of White people. A lot of times the family income in black families is so low that once a child graduates from or is still in high school they have to drop out and get a job to help out. They therefore do not attain the education needed to qualify for good jobs. A high school education doesn't get anyone far in the United States, which brings up the issue of poverty.
Poverty
When people don't have enough money to provide for their needs they sometimes have to steal to get what they need to survive. When you steal whether its food or money you can get caught and put in jail. Once you get put in prison for a small crime if you ever get convicted for a huge crime your sentencing would be harsher. That is the case for many African Americans. Usually if they grew up around stealing and cheating they will will take it into their adulthood. Instead of stealing food the person would be stealing expensive jewelry and cars.
Effect
The socioeconomic status of a person can effect the person's sentence.
Many factors contribute to the way a person is sentenced,
Many factors contribute to the way a person is sentenced,
- Sentencing disparity: Black defendants receive harsher sentences than white defendants due to a variety of reasons
- Prior criminal history: Most blacks become involved with the criminal justice systems as juveniles, this therefore means that they already have a history and this in turn affects the way they are sentenced. The "three strikes and and you're out" legislation is an example of this
- Pretrial releases: Most Blacks are unable to come up with the bail needed to keep them out of jail before their trials, therefore they are not able to go home and prepare for a good trial, which may eventually affect their sentencing
- Plea bargaining: A good majority of Black people do not plea bargain because that do not trust the criminal justice system which affects there numbers in prison
- Jury selection: Most jury members are white and this can affect how they decide a case; blacks are usually disqualified from acting as jurors due to their social and economic status
- "War on drugs" is also a factor that affected harsher sentences on blacks