Different Forms of Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System (original) (raw)
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Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System: Prevalence, Causes, and a Search for Solutions
Journal of Social Issues, 2019
Historically, research has shown that minorities, especially Blacks, are more likely to be arrested and sentenced to prison terms than their White counterparts. Explanations of these findings range from those claiming that minorities differentially engage in deviant and criminal behavior, to those claiming that the criminal justice system (CJS) treats minorities differently. A related line of work has shown that minorities tend to view the CJS as less just or legitimate than Whites. Most explanations for this finding center on personal experiences of unjust treatment. However, research has also shown that vicarious experiences can influence perceptions of legitimacy toward the CJS and that Blacks often have more negative attitudes even when considering the same objective event as Whites. This article reviews relevant literatures then advances a theoretical linkage between racial disparity in criminal justice contact and legitimacy toward the law. At its base, the model suggests that differential treatment (either personal or vicarious) negatively impacts legitimacy, which in turn increases criminal behavior (and thus, racial disparities in criminal justice contact). The model is important for fully understanding racial differences in criminal behavior and criminal justice contact. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.
Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing: Warranted or Unwarranted?
Large research efforts have been directed at the exploration of ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system, documenting harsher treatment of minority ethnic defendants, across offence types, criminal justice decisions, and jurisdictions. However, most studies on the topic have relied on observational data, which can only approximate ‘like with like’ comparisons. As a result, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers have often been wary of interpreting such disparities as evidence of discrimination. We use causal diagrams to lay out explicitly the different ways estimates of ethnic discrimination derived from observational data could be biased. Beyond the commonly acknowledged problem of unobserved case characteristics, we also discuss other less well-known, yet likely more consequential problems: measurement error in the form of racially-determined case characteristics or as a result of high heterogeneity within the ‘Whites’ reference group, and selection bias from non-re...
Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System
American Sociological Association - Department of Research and Development, 2007
This article discuses the racial disparities in the criminal justice system acknowledging the history leading to the above. The article goes over; criminalization of non-whites, 3 strikes rule, crack/cocaine sentencing, war on gangs (race) and drugs, youth delinquency, youth in an adult criminal justice system, racial disparities in prison, and effects of mass incarceration.
And Justice for Some: Race, Crime, and Punishment in the US Criminal Justice System
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2010
How has the criminal justice system~CJS! responded to racial diversity in the United States? Criminologists and sociologists have led the way in studying the reality of how Blacks are treated relative to Whites by law enforcement and the courts. There is now an extensive literature documenting the far greater likelihood of Blacks being arrested, sentenced and incarcerated compared to Whites, and a fairly contentious literature attempting to sort out the degree to which these racial disparities in outcomes are traceable to racial discrimination in the justice system. Far less attention, however, has been paid to studying perceptions of the fairness of the justice system in the eyes of Blacks and Whites, as well as the political consequences of these perceptions. We maintain that the huge race gap in these fairness perceptions, which is the focus of this paper, is critically important for a variety of reasons. As we will argue below, most Whites fail to see discrimination in the justice system and consequently believe the system is, for the most part, colour-blind and fair. Because they attribute racial disparities in justice outcomes to the greater criminality of Blacks, they are highly supportive of a slew of punitive policies as the best way to deal with crime. Most African Americans, on the other hand, see discrimination in virtu
2008
designed for use as a reference manual for practitioners and offers strategies for assessing racial disparity. It also offers practices, procedures and policies to reduce disparity at each stage of the system. Addressing racial disparity in the criminal justice system is entirely consistent with a commitment to public safety and to a fair system of justice. If unwarranted racial disparities can be reduced, the justice system will gain credibility and serve a more effective role in preventing and responding to crime. What is Racial Disparity? Racial disparity in the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial or ethnic group within the control of the system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population 2. The causes of such disparity are varied and can include differing levels of criminal activity, law enforcement emphasis on particular communities, legislative policies, and/or decision making by criminal justice practitioners who exercise broad discretion in the justice process at one or more stages in the system. Illegitimate or unwarranted racial disparity in the criminal justice system results from the dissimilar treatment of similarly situated people based on race. In some instances this may involve overt racial bias, while in others it may reflect the influence of factors that are only indirectly associated with race. Moreover, in some cases disparity results from unguarded, individual-or institution-level decisions that are race-based. Structural racism, derived from the longstanding differential treatment of those with characteristics highly correlated with race (e.g., poverty) can cause or aggravate racial disparity as well.
Journal of Health Care for The Poor and Underserved, 2005
Minority (over) representation in the criminal justice system remains a puzzle, both from a policy and an intervention perspective. Cross-sectional reviews of the policies and practices of the criminal justice system often find differential rates of involvement in the criminal justice system that are associated with the nature of the criminal charge/act or characteristics of the offender; however, longitudinal reviews of the race effect often show it to be confounded by procedural and extralegal variables. This review focuses on how the cumulative policies and practices of the criminal justice system contribute to churning, or the recycling of individuals through the system. In conducting our review, we describe how the same criminal justice processes and practices adversely affect select communities. The consequences of policies and procedures that contribute to churning may affect the legitimacy of the criminal justice system as a deterrent to criminal behavior. A research agenda on issues related to legitimacy of the criminal justice system aimed at a better understanding of how this affects individual and community behavior is presented.
Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and Perceptions of Legitimacy
Race and Justice, 2011
Historically, research has shown that minorities, especially Blacks, are more likely to be arrested and sentenced to prison terms than their White counterparts. Explanations of these findings range from those claiming that minorities differentially engage in deviant and criminal behavior, to those claiming that the criminal justice system (CJS) treats minorities differently. A related line of work has shown that minorities tend to view the CJS as less just or legitimate than Whites. Most explanations for this finding center on personal experiences of unjust treatment. However, research has also shown that vicarious experiences can influence perceptions of legitimacy toward the CJS and that Blacks often have more negative attitudes even when considering the same objective event as Whites. This article reviews relevant literatures then advances a theoretical linkage between racial disparity in criminal justice contact and legitimacy toward the law. At its base, the model suggests that differential treatment (either personal or vicarious) negatively impacts legitimacy, which in turn increases criminal behavior (and thus, racial disparities in criminal justice contact). The model is important for fully understanding racial differences in criminal behavior and criminal justice contact. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.