Minorities in the United States

Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the United States: Rights of Other Minorities

Note: Civil Rights for Hispanics and Asian Americans and Rights of Women are separate entries of this legal Encyclopedia.
The struggle for civil rights has not been confined to blacks, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and women. Native Americans for decades were forcibly deprived of their lands and denied civil rights. In 1968 Congress enacted the Indian Civil Rights Act, and the federal courts have heard a number of suits designed to restore to Native American tribes rights to their ancestral lands.

The elderly have also been deprived of their civil rights, especially in employment and to some degree in housing. Federal and state laws have been only partially successful in solving this problem. Former prisoners and mental patients have suffered legal disabilities after their confinement ended, and resident aliens are sometimes denied equal employment opportunities.

Homosexuals, historically, have not had full civil rights because of social and sexual taboos. The number of judicial decisions and laws enacted at the local level to protect gay men and women from discrimination has increased, but the degree of prejudice was heightened in the 1980s by the concern about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In 1986 the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not bar criminal prosecution for private homosexual relations between consenting adults. Several local governments acted to curtail the rights of lesbians and gay men. By the early 1990s the gay community had organized more effectively than ever before in the effort to assert their rights. In 1996 the Supreme Court ruled that state and local governments cannot make it more difficult for homosexuals than other groups to seek protection through antidiscrimination legislation. And in 2003, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court overturned its 1986 ruling and nullified laws in 13 states that criminalized gay sexual practices. The Court asserted that gays are “entitled to respect for their private lives” and that “the state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime.” See also Gay Rights Movement. (1)

In this Section about Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Religious Freedom, Freedom of Speech, Press and Assembly, Criminal Trials and Due Process of Law, War on Terror, Privacy, Minority Rights Civil Rights for Blacks, Affirmative Action, Civil Rights for Hispanics and Asian Americans, Rights of Women and Minorities. For an overview of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the world, read here.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Encarta Online Encyclopedia

See Also

Discrete and Insular Minorities

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled DISCRETE AND INSULAR MINORITIESThe idea of the “discrete and insular minority” originated in the now famous footnote four of the opinion in united states v. carolene products company (1938) . Justice harlan f. stone, writing for only a plurality of the Court, queried-without answering the
(read more about Constitutional law entries here).

Some Constitutional Law Popular Entries

• Constitutional Law Outline
• Constitutional Law Outline (United States)
• Constitutional Lawyer
• Constitutional Law of India
• Constitutional Law Definition
• Constitutional Law Cases
• Constitutional Law Cases (United States)

Religious Minorities in relation to Crime and Race

Religious Minorities is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: A religious minority is a minority of the population in a given society who profess a religion markedly different from the conventional religious culture of that society. For example, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims are counted as religious minorities in the United States, where Christianity has retained its dominant normative religious status. In the Islamic world, however, it is Christians with small population percentages that are among the ranks of religious minorities. In the social sciences (especially sociology), researchers have been increasingly concerned with social phenomena that center on religious minorities (i.e., cults/new religious movements). Not only does the religious minority group, as a social phenomenon, deserve serious research in its own right, but also there might exist significant associations between the religious minority identity and deviant behaviors, particularly when confounded with race and ethnicity, under certain social conditions. This has been particularly the case after 9/11.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Entry about Religious Minorities in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also

Model Minorities in relation to Crime and Race

Model Minorities is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: The phrase model minority stereotype is used in the social sciences to describe a racial minority group that has excelled in the United States despite prejudice and discrimination. Specifically, this stereotype has become synonymous with the Asian American population. Although there are no standard model minority traits, characteristics include a strong work ethic, educational achievement, and economic success. In addition to these traits, the model minority stereotype also highlights the low involvement of Asian Americans in criminal activities. Asian Americans have maintained this role in criminology, because as a group they have significantly lower crime and incarceration rates than other racial minority groups. Adversely, the model minority stereotype has led to resentment toward Asian Americans by other minority groups. The attention drawn toward crimes against Asian Americans tends to eclipse the occurrence of any crimes committed by this population.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Entry about Model Minorities in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

See Also

Minorities in the Criminal Justice System

This section covers the topics below related with Minorities :

Victims

Special Populations in relation with Minorities

Minorities

Juvenile Justice

Gender

Race

Ethnicity

Minorities

Resources

See Also

• Victims
• Special Populations
• Minorities
• Juvenile Justice
• Gender
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Minorities