There is racial bias in the US Law Enforcement System.

I should specify that my argument is contained to the 50 States of the US and is not meant to analyze the law enforcement system in any other places controlled by the USA. I also wish to clarify that I do not mean by the title of the resolution that the number of arrests/convictions are unequal when looking at race but that the reasons for these numbers being unequal is due to factors other than race. That is to say, for example, that "X is arrested more often than Y because X commits more crime than Y, not because X looks like X and not like Y".To begin looking at the law enforcement system, and how it is enforced, I will breakdown the process someone usually goes through before being sent to prison where there could potentially be racial prejudice. I do this because once someone is in prison it is useless to analyze the population of prisoners to assess prejudice since it says nothing about the conditions during their arrest or evidence used to prove them guilty of a crime.1) ArrestThe first area I believe that racial prejudice may be experienced is just before or during an arrest. That is to say that if there is racial bias it is either when someone is suspected of a crime or during the arrest in terms of what force is used to apprehend the suspect. A recent study, conducted by Roland G. Fryer Jr., found that there was no bias during police shootings. [1] That is to say that when a cop decides to shoot a suspect he was unable to find any difference, for that decision by cops, that was due to race. In fact it has been argued by Peter Moskos that whites are more likely to be killed by cops when adjusting for the rate at which cops are feloniously killed by whites versus blacks (and other races). [2]While Fryer did find differences in use of police force based on race I was unable to find if he adjusted for the prior crimes committed by subjects. That is to say if he noted that when a police officer is sent to apprehend a subject that perhaps when he is briefed on the previous criminal activity of a person, if such information is available, that it may lead to a difference in use of force. If we consider that whites are less likely to commit multiple crimes than blacks or latinos, and Asians even less than whites, then it may not be that the difference in force used against certain races is due to racial bias but rather due to the cop having information that changes he perception of the person because of their criminal record. What must also be considered is the geographical location in which most suspects are apprehended. The largest cities in America typically have the highest crime along with the most police killings. [3] (Data created using the www.mappingpoliceviolence.com/cities/ City Comparison Tool)In these cities the areas with the highest crime tend to have the highest population of blacks & latinos. These areas also tend to be the poorest in each city and when cops are sent to these areas to search for a suspect they may hold bias due to the area being known as dangerous rather than because the person is a certain race. I believe that if a study was conducted accounting for the previous crimes committed and geographical location of the arrest then the disparity seen in use of force could potentially be explained by these factors rather than race.2) ConvictionThe next part in the justice process that one could experience bias is when being sent to court for a potential conviction of said crime. It is often said that blacks/latinos are more likely to be convicted or that they get harsher sentences for the same crime as whites.In 1994 (revised in 99) the Bureau of Justice (BoJ) commissioned a survey of prosecutors in state courts. In this study it was found that there was a lower prosecution rate of blacks than for whites. [4] This surveyed 75 different urban areas. What is consistently argued is the disparity in sentencing for two particular drugs which are crack and powdered cocaine. The main reason behind this is due to the nature of crack being easier to distribute and get high off of. In 1994 the infamous "Crime Bill" was passed mostly by black legislators who believed that doing so would help clean up their neighborhoods. In an unfortunate event since most dealers who distributed crack were black this added to the perception that blacks are given harsher sentences for the same crime.Furthermore as far as I have been able to find there has yet to be a study that adjusts for certain factors when considering whether or not harsher sentences are given to certain races. They are as follows: 1) The history of the judge and how harsh their previous sentences were2) The history of the suspect and how many crimes (and how severe the crimes) they committed3) The lawyers available to the suspects and their track recordsEspecially when considering point #2 I am also unable to find statistics on which race is more likely to have a history of crime. However we can say which races are more likely to commit certain type of crimes thanks to a large report called the "Color of Crime" report. [5] It found that blacks are only arrest more than they are the reported perpetrator for seven crimes: homicides, counterfeiting/forgery, embezzlement, fraud, stolen property offenses, drug offenses, and gambling. Paraphrasing from the report these crimes are either victimless (embezzlement, fraud, stolen property offenses, drug offenses, and gambling), or crimes for which there is usually no witness available (homicides, counterfeiting/forgery). While this falls more into the category of "arrests" it may help explain why there are sentencing differences especially in homicides. It is widely known that most homicides/murders go unsolved and that this is a problem that specifically plagues the black community especially in Chicago where just 26% of all homicides were solved. (While I realize this is one city it would be impossible to go through more cities as the number of sources my opponent would have to read through would become to large)This is perhaps an explanation as to why there is a disparity in charges for blacks versus most other racial groups. In an attempt to help curb the violence those who are caught suffer greater sentences. Since blacks are shown to commit murder at a much higher rate than any other race it is possible that this is the reasoning that harsher sentences are given to them and not because they are black despite the fact that most murders are unsolved. Even if a murder is unsolved many of them may have reported a black offender thus adding more to this perception. This is similar to the attempt by black legislators to clean up their areas when supporting the 1994 Crime Bill.When looking at studies/reports that tend to support the notion that cops/legislators (or the justice system in general) is racially biased a few trends have been noticed. They tend to compare population percentages to arrest/prison percentages but do not consider the rate at which different races commit crime and attempt to make conclusions through this. They also tend to disregard the past criminal activity of the person and even studies/reportes against this notion do this. When accounting for these factors (as was done in the color of crime report) the disparities seem to be explained.Sources: 1) AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN POLICE USE OF FORCE Roland G. Fryer, Jr (http://www.nber.org...)2) COP IN THE HOOD Peter Moskos (http://www.copinthehood.com...)3) MAPPING POLICE VIOLENCE: City Comparison Tool (http://mappingpoliceviolence.org...)4) *PROSECUTORS IN STATE COURTS, 1994 Department of Justice (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu...)5) COLOR OF CRIME REPORT Edwin S. Rubenstein (http://www.colorofcrime.com...)* = You will have to download the "codebook" pdf to view as it is no longer hosted online.