I can honestly say that I have never seen a New York police officer stop a white person. However, I see them stop African Americans and Latinos all the time, asking to see an ID and checking for weapons and drugs in pockets and bags. You only have to live in the Big Apple and watch NYPD officers for a few years to be convinced that this is how things work. 

According to the Human & Civil Rights Organizations of America (HCROA), the majority of police officers adhere to the long-standing stereotype that "all blacks and Hispanics are potential criminals." Three-quarters of all officers patrolling American streets agree with this statement to one degree or another. 

There are thousands of examples of "racists in police caps" that can confirm this research. Unfortunately, in the past year the American press has only taken note of one episode of this nature: when Harvard professor Henry Gates, an African American, tried to get into his own house. 

"Our mass media talks about racial discrimination on the part of police officers as rarely as historians speak about the period of American slavery," said HCROA member Manuel Rodriguez. "This is such a sensitive issue that society tries not to notice it. But the fact remains that it is much easier to end up in jail today if you are not European in appearance."

Rodriguez is right. The racial prejudices of police officers and representatives of the judicial and correctional systems play a large role in prisoner demographics in the United States. California researchers Henry Feldman and Nick Gilt came to the shocking conclusion that when white people, Hispanics, and African Americans commit the same crime, the first group ends up in prison 40 percent of the time; the second, 61 percent of the time; and the third, 85 percent of the time. "This country has no comprehension of objective courts or fair punishment," stated Feldman. "Skin color plays no less a role than wealth or status in society." 

"If the crime is drug dealing or store robbery, the courts send black people and Latinos to prison without any hesitation," emphasized Gilt. "These crimes are regarded as uncharacteristic of white people so in that respect, they are considered more deserving of a second chance."

John Balver of Amnesty International (AI) pointed out a startling detail: even in the twenty-first century, lawyers for white people frequently ask judges not to send their clients to prison because of the large number of blacks and Latinos there. This misguided individual will have to spend several years with people of a different race, they say. He could easily be raped, killed, or driven to suicide because of the color of his skin.

Strange as it may seem, this argument really does work. This is why it is advantageous for the penitentiary system to pack jails with Latinos and African Americans: their large racial concentration is, to a certain extent, beneficial to white people on trial. "If the judge is not a callous sadist and the accused white person is not a serial criminal, they will come to an understanding," said Raymond Trekho, a lawyer who works on the East Coast. "Otherwise, even a three-month stay in prison could be hell." 

The following saying is notorious in New York: "Bracelets for white criminals, Rikers Island for black ones." In other words, the best punishment for whites is an electronic bracelet and house arrest, while for blacks it is Rikers Island, where the majority of the population is made up of drug dealers and gang members. "On one level, sending a white person to a prison exclusively populated by blacks and Latinos is a kind of discrimination," said Trekho. "But on another level, going easy on a white person during sentencing is also discrimination. Sometimes judges just don't know what to do with them." 

Some might assume that most non-white judges and DAs who work in the U.S. judicial and correctional systems would take pity on "their own" and punish "others" (i.e. whites) more frequently. This misconception was proven wrong in the 1990s by psychologist William Florian, who conducted a detailed study of the statistics of judicial rulings. He found that African Americans working in the court system treat African-American defendants much more harshly. The same situation applies to Latinos. Judges and DAs are ready to punish their "brothers in race" to the fullest extent. There are two reasons for this behavior. First, high-level minority officials do not want to fall in the eyes of their white colleagues. Second, blacks and Latinos who have made it up the ladder, "take revenge" on their "brothers" for society's negative attitude towards racial minorities. To put it simply, if you cannot assume the role of an honorable person, then go to prison. 

Florian believes that the number of blacks and Latinos in prison will increase 10 to 15 percent by 2015. "We continue to send the same people to prison who have already been there before." 

Amnesty International has received over 300,000 complaints this year alone from Latino and African-American prisoners. "Many people complain of discrimination on the part of judges, DAs, public defenders, and others in the correctional system," John Balver stated. "Cases concerning blacks and Latinos take 10 to 15 minutes. These people are sent to prisons on a conveyor belt." 

According to AI data, trials for whites last three to four times longer than those of any other racial group. "Sometimes a judge needs only three factors for sentencing: race, education, and existence of a criminal record," said Helga Davis, author of Racism and Psychology. "If a previously convicted black person who has not completed high school is on trial, his fate is sealed." 

Talk of racial biases of police officers and judicial officials flares up during times of crisis and mass unemployment. Some human rights advocates are convinced that authorities follow unspoken instructions to separate from "white society" every unemployed (i.e. unpromising) African American or Latino on a criminal path. This can be achieved through the tried and true method of imprisonment.

Finally, it remains to be said that blacks and Latinos receive the strictest sentences in areas with high concentrations of white people.