With a topic as often discussed as racial discrimination within our criminal justice system, there are many opinions and theories as to why our correctional facilities are populated with the type of prisoners who are housed inside. Fortunately, our criminal justice system has not been proven to be run in a racially discriminatory manner, rather it has been debated and analyzed in many lights. Discrimination is prohibited, as a matter of constitutional and statutory law, in a wide range of contexts (Banks, Eberhardt & Ross, 2006). Who is it that teaches us who to fear within society? Who are the “bad guys” we should avoid? How many times do our parents tell us during our childhood to avoid certain people and places? Examples are a stranger with a van, neighborhoods to avoid late at night, and other precautions that shape how we think and believe as we grow about the dangers within our society. These same precautions that we are accustomed to during our childhood creep into our minds throughout adolescence and into adulthood. How do our parents determine who are the “bad guys” we should avoid? If our parents raise us to distinguish between individuals, is it possible that they raise us in a racially discriminatory way? If so, then who are we to criticize our criminal justice system for doing the same? Criminologists generally agree that young people are more likely to commit crimes than older people, men more than women, urban dwellers more than farmers, poor people more than rich people, and minorities more than whites (Cole, 1999). Logically, there is no criterion that can be immediately classified as the “type” of person who would commit crimes and the… medium of paper… and to search for and arrest people. As Cole (1999) explained, police departments must be willing to reveal the demographics of their enforcement tactics to the public. If society is not aware of why the police persecute the individuals they are, society is left to assume their own reasons, which more often than not leads to the thought of racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is not a fair way to run a criminal justice system or any other aspect of our free communities. As a country, the United States has come a long way and as a nation has given us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Until there is concrete evidence that the criminal justice system is run on a racial basis, it would be our duty to trust those in charge and continue to follow the laws in place to set the best possible example for others within our community. society..