America Becoming Racial Trends and Their Consequences: Volume II (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2. Race and Criminal Justice
2. Race and Criminal Justice
Pages 21-31
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 21... ...
For example: This critique is based on Randall Kennedy's paper, "Racial Trends in the Administration of Criminal Justice," prepared for the Research Conference on Racial Trends in the United States. National Research Council, Washington, D.C., October 15-16,1998.
|
From page 22... ...
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE DISPARITIES It is important to isolate factors contributing to the disparity, because different factors will lead to different approaches for improvement. We can identify three different contributors: · individual acts of discrimination, · policies that have differential racial effects, and · racial differences in participation in the crimes that lead to involvement with the criminal justice system.
|
From page 23... ...
There is little doubt that any such discriminatory behavior should be highlighted, routed out, and guilty officials appropriately dealt with. There can be little doubt that such acts of discrimination occur; but the racial disparities are so great that it strains credulity to believe that in the United States, at the end of the twentieth century, the bulk of the disparities can be attributed to individual acts of discrimination.
|
From page 24... ...
With the exception of drug offenses and this is an important exception because drug prisoners currently comprise 23 percent of state prisoners and 60 percent of federal prisoners (Blumstein and Beck, 1999) there seems to be strong evidence that there is a high ordinal association between people's perception of the seriousness of the offense and the time served for them (Blumstein and Cohen, 1980~.
|
From page 25... ...
The case is made even more conspicuous in the case of capital punishment, which, even if infrequent, is our most extreme sanction, and one that is extremely symbolic because of its connection to the abhorrent traditions of lynching. Capital Punishment Kennedy highlights the dilemma of the McCleskey case, in which the strong analytic work of Baldus et al.
|
From page 26... ...
This is in the face of decisions by other courts, such as the Minnesota Supreme Court, which declared that any treatment difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine was a violation of at least the Minnesota State Constitution. Differences in Incarceration Rate The two previous examples capital punishment decisions and the drug mandatory-minimum sentences are certainly important, but they
|
From page 27... ...
As one examines the less-serious offenses, where there is more discretion at the various stages of the criminal justice system, the race ratio at arrest accounts for less of the racial disproportionality in prison. The race ratio in drug arrests in particular accounted for only about 50 percent of the prison disproportionality for drug offenses.
|
From page 28... ...
Race differences in the arrest of drug offenders still accounted for only 50 percent of the racial disproportionality of drug prisoners, but because drug prisoners had increased so significantly, their presence diminished the ability of arrest disproportionality to explain the total prison disparity. When we look at the individual states, we also find some striking results.
|
From page 29... ...
In addition, there have been a variety of reports of traffic stops and drug searches carried out with a strong suggestion of racial profiling. Role of the Drug War in Contributing to Racial Differences The strongest candidate for a policy area that does have strong racial implications has been the efforts to pursue drug abuse through enforcement and incarceration.
|
From page 30... ...
It should also include consideration of recent incidents of conflict between the police and members of the minority communities. It is likely that these tensions increase considerably on both sides following singular incidents of police use of force that is at least arguably excessive.
|
From page 31... ...
1998 Overview of racial trends in the administration of criminal justice. Paper prepared for the Research Conference on Racial Trends in the United States, Washington, D.C., October 15-16.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.