is will use text and real world examples to support this contention.
The experiences of my internship coupled with my study have enabled me to become aware of many concepts and insights regarding the modern criminal justice system. I saw how race and poverty are important factors that influence the criminal justice system. For example, those who are black, urban and poor must often rely on local governments for help and local governments in turn must work to strengthen existing neighborhood-based organization and the improvement of service delivery. While these efforts may not eliminate poverty, they will help improve social relations and represent a step toward better race relations. I saw many black youths who were bitter and resentful against the bureaucracy because they feel it is insensitive to their needs and racist. Efforts to reduce these feelings will only help reduce criminal activity. However, from my internship experience I saw that just as many black citizens are demanding more policing and harsher laws in their community. As J. Phillip Thompson points out in his essay on race and poverty “Low-income black communities are demanding increased police protection, harsher police crackdowns, and longer sentencing. Black elected officials and administrators have been under intense pressure to respond, which increasingly pits them against traditional civil rights allies and against each other” (Vitullo-Martin 30).
We can see that while textbooks and the classroom may advocate a balanced position between cracking down on crime and protection of civil rights abuses, these kinds of balances in reality are quite difficult to achieve. I also encountered the huge dilemma of education in our low-income urban areas while serving my internship. Once again, the lack of a cooperative and community oriented administration hampers the educatio
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