Criminology

The Three Waves of Immigrations to the United States

The three waves of immigrants to the Unites states consisted of people facing different challenges in lives. Some were poor peasants escaping from poverty others were religious oppressed like the Jews fleeing persecution in Russia as well as unemployed workers from factories and mines. All these people were entering United states with a common reason search for better lives All the three waves of immigrations to the unites states, after arriving in us founded and or become members of fraternal organizations and many other social activities like building churches and educational institutions with one similar goal to maintain national identity and protect themselves from all sort of abuses and discrimination.(Greenleaf, Barbara K.1970)

The first wave of immigrants these were the first immigrants to the United States. There was great demand for manpower in America, the country was transforming from agricultural to industrial and urban society, this triggered America to open its doors for immigrants. The first wave of immigrants were peasants from the overpopulated southern territories and the unemployed workers from factories and mines followed. Majority of these immigrants were people from rural areas without any industrial experience and they were employed as unskilled laborers in industries and paid low income. The second wave of immigrants arrived in the United States during and after world war two, these immigrants were mostly political refugees unlike the first wave immigrants who were economic immigrants. The post-war political situation forced people to leave their homes against their wishes. Among these political refugees were more specialists, soldiers, army veterans and prisoners who decided to immigrate in to the US. Many of them had professional education and knowledge of English which prepared them for professional jobs and made their process of adaptation easier than their predecessors. (Greenleaf, Barbara K.1970)

The third wave of immigrants were people who considered United States as a country of great opportunity for them. These people brought new ideas and new expectations in America unlike the former two waves of immigrations. These immigrants were civilized people proficiency in English and with relatively good education. Most of them were young and middle aged people who tried to be active in their professional lives. They represented a more civilized and social economic status and integrated fast to the America society. The first wave of immigrants impacted the American society since they were unemployed they replaced the native born workers because industries were interested in employing low cost immigrant workers. This wave accelerated the evolution of the industrial economy and enriched Americans culture .Although the second wave of immigrants were considered to be political immigrants they turned out to be economic immigrant, they looked for jobs opportunities and were employed in America and had substantial effects on reducing the economic status of the united states poor native people while benefiting middle class individuals and richer Americans

The third wave of immigrants consisted of educated people looking for greener pastures they were employed in many sectors in industrialized and urban America in sectors like costruction, hospitals and others as graduate professionals in advanced institutions. These immigrants contributed to the Americas social security by paying taxes and other social services hence boosting Americas economy. Nevertheless this wave of immigrants also attracted some illegal immigrants some of whom were drug smugglers for instance the Mexican drug cartels and even terrorists who threatened Americas security and had an impact on Americas criminal justice (Greenleaf, Barbara K. 1970)
                                     
Civil Rights Legislation
The most impactiful and influential piece of civil rights legislation is the one which will enforce statutes to protect each and every person in that country. Effective legislative act is achieved by creating acts that will prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race color, religion, sex and national origin and will prohibit discrimination of disabled people in both public and private sector, An impactiful act that prohibits gender discrimination in education and will grant pregnant mothers maternity leave and health benefits, guides public employers to make use of affirmative action plans and mitigate discrimination that under-represents women and minorities in workplaces. A good legislative act will ensure equal voting rights and protect constitutional rights in public facilities and education, an act that will ensure fair and equal criminal justice systems.Althuogh the civil right legislation had tried to executed its objective, its performance is very low-rated, and it has not carried out most of its mandate. For instance, the criminal justice system is working on the principle of racial profiling, whereby its facilitators who are police officers assume that all the criminals and suspects of crime are the black community and the poor minorities, hence these people suffer unfairly due to racial stereotyping. (Greenleaf, Barbara K. 1970)
                           
Criminal Justice systems
The black community in America is more alienated from the criminal justice system than the larger population. This is true particularly for the people from black and minority ethnic communities where the fear of crime by the white community and the criminal justice system is higher. The black community has been exposed to stop and search, prosecution and custodian sentencing. The government through its crown prosecution service (CPS) is trying to make the criminal justice system more transparent, restore trust and improve its relationship with the black community. The government approach to move away from the one- size- fill- all approach and develop a more sophisticated and tailored responses to bring together the black community and the criminal justice system. The major role of the CPS is to build public trust and confidence. Community engagement strategy developed by the CPS is trying to work with the community especially the black community who feels racially discriminated. The government has set challenging targets for the criminal justice system aimed at reducing inequalities and building community cohesion, reducing the fear of crime and anti-social behavior, building confidence in the criminal justice systems without compromising fairness including that of the black and minority ethnic communities, close the gap between policy and practice, improve the racial hatred between the criminal justice police officers and the black community.(Greenleaf, Barbara K 1970)

Today racial discrimination laws and racial violence aimed at the black community which had mushroomed the United States as well vote suppression were abolished under the civil rights act and Americans were granted equal voting rights regardless of their gender, color or any other social alienation. The election of president Obama  as the first black American president, although most of his votes he received from his black American, he also received overwhelming support from young and educated whites and native Americans is a clear indication that the white society is accepting the black community and trusting them as their fellow country people.
                     
Racial Stereotyping
The following are some examples of racial stereotyping and their effects upon the criminal justice system. Racial profiling- it is the most common example of racial stereotyping in the United States. The criminal justice systems perceive the minority groups as the most likely group to commit crime because they are poor. This has created biases by the criminal justice systems which perceive racial profiling as a crime fighting strategy rather than racism or discrimination issue. The criminal justice system base their racism on the assumption that by treating the black community and other minority groups as suspects of crime will increase their chances of catching criminals 2. Inequality in the legal systems- majority of black people in prisons are there because of racial stereotyping. A good example is a recent case that has revealed systematic racial bias and inequality in the legal system law enforcement and sentencing including the prosecution of six black high school students in Jena, Louisiana for fighting after a racial tension, these students initially faced hundred years sentence for attempted murder an incident that many believed should have led to suspension from school, no white students were prosecuted.3. Black men and public spaces- black community has been racially profiled in America on many occasions and they have been falsely assumed to be a threat to the safety of others around them. for example in Chicago one black man who was a journalist by the name Staples was mistaken as a burglar at his work place when rushed back to the office a rushed deadline story in hand. He also claimed people feared him especially white woman and suspected him of a mugger in the surrounding area. (Greenleaf, Barbara K. 1970)