by Shane Riley

Created on: January 04, 2009

INSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION

Discrimination upon minority races not only takes place between individuals but is also woven into many of our social institutions. Institutional discrimination happens on both a conscious and an unconscious level. When discrimination occurs on a conscious level, it is done with full knowledge, purpose, and with intent; the perpetrator knows what he or she is doing. When discrimination happens on an unconscious level, the perpetrator is unaware that he or she is purposely discriminating upon others.

Institutional discrimination, sometimes unknowingly, contributes to racism and can cause further negative treatment toward members of minority races, etc. This unconscious racial treatment happens when members of the minority race, etc., try to do or try to accomplish the same things as the dominant race, but they are stopped or denied the same treatment and privileges based upon sex, color, religion, gender, etc. Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans may be denied a loan from a bank based upon race alone. A white person of the same race, sex, age, income, and credit rating as that of the black, Latino, or Native American, will more than likely be approved for the same loan because he or she is white. It is perceived by the institution that whites have better credit ratings and are more likely to have and keep a job and pay back the loan. I believe institutional discrimination to be based upon 200 years of negative stereotyping of the minority races. Institutional discrimination, although unintentional, only worsens and widens the gap of racial discrimination.

One social institution that reproduces negative racial norms and reduces the quality of life for minorities is the criminal justice system. Out of all the different social institutions, I think that the criminal justice system is more influential with social norms.

The social institution of the criminal justice system breeds institutional discrimination and racism because of its unfairness toward minorities and because of its use of labels. Statistics show, according to the criminal justice system, that blacks and other minorities are more susceptible of breaking laws, being deviant, and violating the norms of society than that of whites. Moreover, I believe the discrimination of minorities, through the criminal justice system, to be of a more stereotypical nature and the discrimination seems to be on a more conscious level.

When police officers see a group of black males or a group

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