White Privilege in the Criminal Justice System: Examining the Shift in Media Approach to the War on Drugs

Posted: 4 Oct 2016

Date Written: October 1, 2016

Abstract

Upon exploring the history of drug use and prohibition in America, it is evident that there have always been racial implications in the war on drugs. However, in order to understand how white privilege has been an important part of the criminal justice system, we must understand how America’s history has ingrained in both white and black communities the idea that black behavior is synonymous with criminal behavior. It is not simply targeting and demonizing the black community that has led to a racist criminal justice system, but also white privilege that allows whites in America to get away with committing the same crimes that blacks have been severely punished for. The purpose of this research is to explore that very issue by looking at how the media sensationalism and scapegoating of blacks helped to demonize the black community during the crack epidemic and how that contributed to the implementation of racist drug policies. However, there has been shift in media imagery and messaging with the heroin epidemic due to the changing demographics of those afflicted with addiction. This shift has led to a gentler political approach to the War on Drugs with attempts to pass policies that focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment. I chose to focus on this topic because the war on drugs has arguably been the most overt racist political attack on blacks since the Jim Crow era. Research needs to be done in order to begin to change not only the policies but the biases that persist in media that help to create them. We must understand these subtle biases when portraying black and white criminals because as long as they exist it will be impossible to eliminate white privilege from the criminal justice system.

Keywords: War on Drugs, Media, White Privilege

Suggested Citation

Fitch, Chanell, White Privilege in the Criminal Justice System: Examining the Shift in Media Approach to the War on Drugs (October 1, 2016). 2017 National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS) Annual Meeting, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2846609

Chanell Fitch (Contact Author)

Clark Atlanta University ( email )

223 James P. Brawley
Atlanta, GA 30314
United States

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