Institutional Discrimination

Need help with this project an I’m hoping I can get serious help.  No, need to do any calculations or any complex tables.  Just a few examples from the data where you draw conclusions.  See attached below for more instruction on what is needed.  Need help!

Topic: Institutional Discrimination

Task: Use data to understand the extent of institutional discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Specifically: Find out how the “War On Drugs” since the 1980s have negatively affected racial and ethnic minorities, in terms of criminal justice policies and practices, more so than the white majority.

Professor’s Note: To write this paper, you will have to dig around for some official statistics. Just take it a step at a time. The links for the web sites are in the Unit 6 link on the left side menu in class. Scroll for the Unit 6 Assignment instructions.

If you find this data search difficult, follow my guide below. I recognize that not everyone is comfortable using statistics. But this is an important skill, even in just reading the daily news, to understand how numbers and figures impact your life and your community.

My main interest is in seeing that you can look at a table or graph and draw some reasonable conclusions. Don’t stress over this. Do the best you can and submit your ideas and comments in the paper. Include a note at the top of your paper if you found this a difficult assignment.

 Two Data Sources: (Both links located under Unit 6 Assignment – the little box to the right of the instructions)

1)  National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

2)   FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports

Question 1:  (150 words or more)

• Describe differences in illegal drug use based on race and ethnicity.
• Which racial and ethnic groups are most likely to use each illegal drug?

Locating the Information for Question 1:

1.Review data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

a.  Select an option (such as heroin usage or any other you find interesting).

b.  Then correlate this with race/ethnicity…

  i.  By selecting a “Respondent Characteristic” — a specific minority group.

c.  Ignore the “confidence intervals” – select “None Displayed”

d.  Select  a type of chart under “Chart Options” – maybe play around with this in different formats if you like.

2.  Repeat step 1 for other types of drugs.

1. 1. If you right-click on the table links, you can select “Open in new tab” and then compare the different sets of data.

Questions 2 through 4:

1. Look at drug arrests  in terms of race and ethnicity.
2. Look for the 2013 data on arrests.
3. Go to “Persons Arrested” —  located in the Resources.
4. Look for Tables 43, 49, 55, 61, and 67
   • These show data categories for race and ethnicity.
   • Click on each table number to see the full tabular data.
   • Then scroll down in each table to look for “Drug abuse violations.”
   • NOTE:
     • Table 43 gives the overall national picture of drug abuse arrests.
     • The other tables give regional data — cities, counties, suburbs, and nonmetropolitan areas.

Question 2:  (150 words or more)

• Describe differences in drug arrests based on race and ethnicity.
• Which racial and ethnic groups are most likely to be arrested for drug abuse violations?

Question 3: (250 words or more)

• Compare and contrast the data on drug use with drug arrests.
• What factors account for the discrepancy between who uses illegal drugs and who is arrested for drug abuse violations?
• To what extent have public policies or law enforcement strategies contributed to this disparity?
• Use at least one of this unit’s course readings to support your response.

Question 4: (250 words or more)

• What’s the impact on minorities and minority communities, based on what you discovered in Question 3?
• What policy changes would you recommend for addressing these disparities?
• Discuss at least two potential solutions or strategies…
  • community-based
  •  legislative (at the state or federal level)
  •  law enforcement strategies.

Remember:

1. Use your data to support your comments.
2. Refer to the names of the graphs or charts in your writing to make your points.
3. Total length 2-3 pages not counting separate title and reference pages.

I’ve attached this document to this message for downloading and printing if you want.

 Unit 6 Assignment Handout SOC2000.docx (21.281 KB)