The Color of Justice Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America

by Walker, Samuel; Spohn, Cassia; DeLone, Miriam

• ISBN13: 9780534523626
• ISBN10: 0534523625
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-17
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Comprehensive and balanced, THE COLOR OF JUSTICE is the definitive book on current research and theories of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination within America's criminal justice system. The authors synthesize the best and the most recent research on patterns of criminal behavior and victimization, police practices, court processing and sentencing, the death penalty, and correctional programs giving your students the facts and theoretical foundation they need to make their own informed decisions about discrimination in the system. Uniquely unbiased, THE COLOR OF JUSTICE makes every effort to incorporate discussion of all major race groups found in the United States.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Race, Ethnicity, and Crime: The Present Crisis	p. 1
The Scope of This Book	p. 2
Goals of the Chapter	p. 4
The Colors of America: Racial and Ethnic Categories	p. 5
Racial and Ethnic Categories	p. 5
Focus on an Issue: The Bell Curve Controversy: Race and IQ	p. 7
Focus on an Issue: The Impact of a "Multicultural" Category	p. 8
The Politics of Racial and Ethnic Labels	p. 10
The Quality of Criminal Justice Data on Race and Ethnicity	p. 12
The Geography of Racial and Ethnic Justice	p. 13
Disparity Versus Discrimination	p. 15
The Discrimination-Disparity Continuum	p. 17
A Theoretical Perspective on Race, Ethnicity, and Crime	p. 18
Alternative Theories	p. 20
Summary	p. 20
Discussion Questions	p. 20
Notes	p. 21
Victims and Offenders: Myths and Realities about Crime	p. 24
Goals of the Chapter	p. 25
Picture of the Typical Victim	p. 25
The National Crime Victimization Survey	p. 26
Household Victimization	p. 27
Personal Victimization	p. 29
Trends in Household and Personal Victimization	p. 31
Lifetime Likelihood of Victimization	p. 32
Homicide Victimization Rates	p. 32
Summary: A Picture of the Typical Crime Victim	p. 33
Picture of the Typical Offender	p. 33
Official Arrest Statistics	p. 34
Focus on an Issue: The Creation of Victims and Offenders of Color	p. 35
Focus on an Issue: A Proposal to Eliminate Race From UCR Reports	p. 36
Perceptions of Offenders by Victims	p. 41
Self-Report Surveys	p. 43
Summary: A Picture of the Typical Criminal Offender	p. 46
Crime as an Intraracial Event	p. 46
The National Crime Victimization Survey	p. 47
UCR Homicide Reports	p. 47
Summary	p. 47
Focus on an Issue: The Politicization of Interracial Crime	p. 48
Focus on an Issue: Politicizing Black-On-Black Crime	p. 48
Crime as an Interracial (Hate) Event	p. 49
Ethnic Youth Gangs	p. 50
Gang Myths and Realities	p. 50
Varieties of Ethnic Gangs	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 54
Discussion Questions	p. 55
Notes	p. 56
Race, Ethnicity, Social Structure, and Crime	p. 60
Goals of the Chapter	p. 60
Economic Inequality	p. 61
Income	p. 62
Wealth	p. 63
Unemployment	p. 64
Poverty Status	p. 65
Human and Social Capital	p. 65
Progress, Stagnation, or Regression? The Debate over the Status of African America	p. 66
The Debate over the Underclass	p. 68
Community Social Structure	p. 70
Residential Segregation	p. 70
Theoretical Perspectives on Inequality and Crime	p. 73
Social Strain Theory	p. 73
Differential Association Theory	p. 74
Social Disorganization Theory	p. 75
Culture Conflict Theory	p. 76
Conflict Theory	p. 76
Routine Activity Theory	p. 77
The Limits of Current Theories	p. 78
Inequality and Social Reform	p. 78
The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement	p. 79
The Attack on Economic Inequality	p. 81
Conclusion	p. 83
Discussion Questions	p. 83
Notes	p. 84
Justice on the Street?: the Police and Minorities	p. 87
Unequal Justice?	p. 87
Goals of the Chapter	p. 88
A Contextual Approach	p. 88
A Long History of Conflict	p. 89
The Police and a Changing America	p. 90
Public Attitudes About the Police	p. 90
Policing Minority Neighborhoods	p. 92
Variations Among Minorities and the Police	p. 92
Focus on an Issue: Too Much or Too Little Policing?	p. 94
Police Use of Deadly Force	p. 95
Reducing Disparities in Shootings	p. 95
Disparity Versus Discrimination in Shootings	p. 96
"Police Brutality": Police Use of Physical Force	p. 97
Discrimination in Arrests?	p. 99
Focus on an Issue: Police and the War on Drugs	p. 101
Quality of Life Policing	p. 101
Stopping, Questioning, and Frisking	p. 102
Stereotyping, Racial Prejudice, and Routine Police Work	p. 103
Focus on an Issue: "Driving While Black"	p. 104
Verbal Abuse	p. 105
Police Officer Attitudes and Behavior	p. 106
Minorities and Police Corruption	p. 107
Police-Community Relations Programs	p. 108
Citizen Complaints Against the Police	p. 109
Citizen Review of the Police	p. 110
Police Employment Practices	p. 110
Trends in Racial Minority Employment	p. 110
Focus on an Issue: Would It Make a Difference? Assigning African American Officers to African American Neighborhoods	p. 111
The Law of Employment Discrimination	p. 113
Discrimination in Assignment	p. 114
The Impact of Diversity	p. 115
Minorities as Supervisors and Chief Executives	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 116
Discussion Questions	p. 117
Notes	p. 118
The Courts: a Quest for Justice During the Pretrial Process	p. 124
The Situation Today	p. 126
Goals of the Chapter	p. 128
Decisions Regarding Counsel and Bail	p. 128
Racial Minorities and the Right to Counsel	p. 128
Racial Minorities and Bail Decision Making	p. 133
Charging and Plea Bargaining Decisions	p. 139
Prosecutors' Charging Decisions	p. 140
Race and Plea Bargaining Decisions	p. 146
Conclusion	p. 148
Discussion Questions	p. 149
Notes	p. 149
Justice on the Bench?: Trial and Adjudication in Adult and Juvenile Court	p. 154
Goals of the Chapter	p. 155
Selection of the Jury Pool	p. 155
Use of Peremptory Challenges	p. 158
Playing the "Race Card" in a Criminal Trial	p. 161
Focus on an Issue: Should We Eliminate the Peremptory Challenge?	p. 162
Race-Conscious Jury Nullification: Black Power in the Courtroom?	p. 165
Race/Ethnicity and the Juvenile Justice System	p. 167
Race/Ethnicity and Juvenile Court Outcomes in Three Jurisdictions	p. 169
Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court	p. 171
Explaining Disparate Treatment of Juvenile Offenders	p. 173
Conclusion	p. 175
Discussion Questions	p. 176
Notes	p. 177
Race and Sentencing: In Search of Fairness and Justice	p. 181
Goals of the Chapter	p. 182
Racial Disparity in Sentencing	p. 183
Three Explanations for Racial Disparities in Sentencing	p. 183
Empirical Research on Race and Sentencing	p. 186
Discriminatory Sentencing in Three Urban Jurisdictions	p. 186
Direct and Indirect Race Effects in Two Texas Counties	p. 189
Racial Equity in Sentencing in Pennsylvania	p. 190
More Lenient Sentences for Nonwhite Drug Offenders	p. 193
When Does Race Matter?	p. 194
Differential Treatment of Interracial and Intraracial Crime	p. 195
Race, Unemployment, and Punishment	p. 200
The Effect of Race on Sentencing for Various Types of Crimes	p. 202
Sentencing and the War on Drugs	p. 205
Focus on an Issue: Penalties for Crack and Powder Cocaine	p. 209
The Effect of Race on Sentencing for Male and Female Offenders	p. 210
Focus on an Issue: Does It Make a Difference? A Comparison of the Sentencing Decisions of African American, Hispanic, and White Judges	p. 211
Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a "Just" Punishment System	p. 214
Sentence Reform and Sentence Disparity	p. 215
Conclusion	p. 218
Discussion Questions	p. 219
Notes	p. 219
The Color of Death: Race and the Death Penalty	p. 225
Goals of the Chapter	p. 225
The Constitutionality of the Death Penalty	p. 226
Furman v. Georgia	p. 226
Post-Furman Decisions	p. 228
Attitudes Toward Capital Punishment	p. 228
Race and the Death Penalty: The Empirical Evidence	p. 231
Statistical Evidence of Racial Disparity	p. 231
Pre-Furman Studies	p. 235
Post-Furman Studies	p. 240
Explanations for Disparate Treatment	p. 245
Focus on an Issue: The Death Penalty and Wrongful Convictions	p. 246
McCleskey v. Kemp: The Supreme Court and Racial Discrimination in the Application of the Death Penalty	p. 248
Focus on an Issue: The Case of the Martinsville Seven	p. 249
The Execution of Warren McCleskey	p. 251
The Aftermath of McCleskey	p. 252
Conclusion	p. 254
Discussion Questions	p. 255
Notes	p. 255
Corrections: a Picture in Black and White	p. 260
Prison Versus College: Minorities in Society	p. 260
Goals of the Chapter	p. 260
The Incarcerated: Prison and Jail Populations	p. 261
Minority Overrepresentation	p. 261
Racial and Ethnic Female Prisoners	p. 263
Historical Trends	p. 263
Impact of the War on Drugs	p. 264
Focus on an Issue: Correctional Personnel: Similarities and Differences on the Basis of Race	p. 265
Incarceration Rates	p. 265
Jails and Minorities	p. 266
The Role of Jail	p. 266
Minority Overrepresentation	p. 267
Parole: Early Release from Prison	p. 267
Success and Failure on Parole	p. 269
Probation: A Case of Sentencing Discrimination?	p. 270
Perspectives on the Racial Distribution of Correctional Populations	p. 270
Adjustment to Prison	p. 274
Focus on an Issue: Life in Prison: Segregation: By Law or Choice?	p. 275
Race and Religion	p. 276
Focus on an Issue: Indigenous Justice Paradigm	p. 278
Prison Gangs	p. 278
Focus on an Issue: Civil Rights of Convicted Felons	p. 279
Women in Prison	p. 280
Juveniles Under Correctional Supervision	p. 280
Conclusion	p. 281
Discussion Questions	p. 282
Notes	p. 282
The Color of Justice	p. 286
Race, Crime, and Justice	p. 287
Notes	p. 290
Selected Bibliography	p. 291
Index	p. 299
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