Race and the American Justice System

While the allegation that our justice system is racist might seem to be a controversial generalization, take a minute to examine some of these very real statistics on race and incarceration in the US. In this Huffington Post article, Bill Quigley, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, outlines some of the major debates surrounding race and the justice system, such as the extensive sentences for non-violent drug crimes that affect a disproportionate number of blacks in the US (for more on this, see the NPR This American Life story on drug sentencing we posted earlier).