Racial and ethnic perceptions of injustice: Testing the core hypotheses of comparative conflict theory

Comparative conflict theory is a theoretical statement proposed by Hagan, Shedd, and Payne (2005) to explain racial and ethnic variation in perceptions of injustice. Their theory asserted that White respondents perceive considerably less injustice than both African Americans and Hispanics (the racial-ethnic divide hypothesis) and that African Americans perceive less injustice than Hispanics (the racial gradient hypothesis). They also proposed that prior criminal justice experiences serve as a “tipping point” for Hispanics in that Hispanics with prior negative criminal justice contacts will perceive more injustice than African Americans with similar prior negative experiences. This study tested these three hypotheses, finding support for the racial-ethnic divide and racial-gradient hypotheses, but not the differential sensitivity hypothesis. In addition, this study explored the racial and ethnic identity of Hispanics (i.e., “White Hispanic” and “Black Hispanic”) and found that Hispanics, who were younger, less educated, and perceived some forms of injustice were more likely to identify themselves as being both Hispanic and Black.     

CYNICAL STREETS: NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL PROCESSES AND PERCEPTIONS OF CRIMINAL INJUSTICE*

Studies have found that African Americans are more likely to perceive racial biases in the criminal justice system than are those from other racial groups. There is a limited understanding of how neighborhood social processes affect variation in these perceptions. This study formulates a series of hypotheses focused on whether perceived racial biases in the criminal justice system or perceptions of injustice vary as a function of levels of moral and legal cynicism as well as of adverse police–citizen encounters. These hypotheses are tested with multilevel regression models applied to data from a sample of 689 African Americans located in 39 neighborhoods. Findings from the regression models indicate that the positive association between structural disadvantage and perceptions of injustice is accounted for by moral and legal cynicism. Furthermore, adverse police encounters significantly increase perceptions of injustice; controlling for these encounters reduces the strength of the association between cynicism and injustice perceptions. Finally, the findings reveal that cynicism intensifies the association between adverse police encounters and perceptions of criminal injustice. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for research regarding perceived biases in the criminal justice system and neighborhood social processes.     

The impact of race on criminal justice ideology: An examination of high school students

Research suggests that differences exist in the criminal justice ideology of Black and White Americans. For example, adult African Americans are more likely than their White counterparts to support criminal justice measures that address the root causes of crime. There has, however, been limited interest in exploring the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. Using survey data collected from 1,398 rural and suburban public high school students, the present study examined the influence of race on the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. The findings suggested that while Black teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a liberal crime control ideology and White teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a conservative ideology, confidence in the justice system to be fair strongly influences the beliefs of both groups.     

RACIAL THREAT,PARTISAN POLITICS,AND RACIAL DISPARITIES IN PRISON ADMISSIONS: A PANEL ANALYSIS*

Why are racial disparities in imprisonment so pronounced? Studies of alternative outcomes in the criminal justice system find positive relationships between minority presence and punitive outcomes. Therefore, it is puzzling that the studies of racial incarceration ratios find negative relationships between this presence and such discrepancies. We use a pooled time‐series design to resolve this dilemma. Successful Republican attempts to link crime with public concerns about a dangerous racial underclass also suggest that where these racial appeals are successful, African Americans should face higher incarceration rates than whites. In contrast to prior research, our results are consistent with findings about other criminal justice outcomes. They show that an inverted, U‐shaped, nonlinear relationship is present between African‐American presence and racial disparities in imprisonments. Additional results indicate that the presence of African Americans in deep southern states and greater support for Republican presidential candidates together with increases in the most menacing crime (which often is blamed on African Americans) also help to explain these discrepant racial prison admission rates.     

Race,Crime, and Criminal Justice

Fifty years ago, the U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice under President Johnson did not frequently mention race and ethnicity in its discussion of and recommendations for the criminal justice system, but it did have a lot to say about race and crime. Through the use of arrest rates to measure racial differentials in criminal involvement, the Commission concluded that Blacks commit more crime as a consequence of Black people living in greater numbers in criminogenic “slum” conditions. To address racial differences, the Commission favored the Great Society programs of Johnson's War on Poverty. Contemporary criminologists continue to debate the racial distribution of crime, the causes of crimes, and the best policies to reduce crime and racial differentials. The Commission did not anticipate the current debate among scholars regarding how much racial disproportionality exists in the criminal justice system and its causes and consequences. The policies that led to mass incarceration have been significant drivers of continued criminal justice racial disparity. Those policies are inconsistent with the recommendation in The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society (1967), upending the pursuit of a more fair and just system.     

Priming Unconscious Racial Stereotypes About Adolescent Offenders

Two studies examined unconscious racial stereotypes of decision makers in the juvenile justice system. Police officers (Experiment 1) and juvenile probation officers (Experiment 2) were subliminally exposed to words related to the category Black or to words neutral with respect to race. In a presumably unrelated task, officers read 2 vignettes about a hypothetical adolescent who allegedly committed either a property crime (shoplifting from a convenience store) or an interpersonal crime (assaulting a peer). The race of the offender was left unstated and the scenarios were ambiguous about the causes of the crime. Respondents rated the hypothetical offender on a number of traits (e.g., hostility and immaturity) and made judgments about culpability, expected recidivism, and deserved punishment. They also completed a self-report measure of conscious attitudes about race. As hypothesized, officers in the racial prime condition reported more negative trait ratings, greater culpability, and expected recidivism, and they endorsed harsher punishment than did officers in the neutral condition. The effects of the racial primes were not moderated by consciously held attitudes about African Americans. The implications of the findings for racial disparity in the juvenile justice system and for changing unconscious stereotypes were discussed.     

INTERROGATING RACE,CRIME, AND JUSTICE IN A TIME OF UNEASE AND RACIAL TENSION

This address has a twofold purpose. First, as the first African American to serve as president of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), I celebrate the contributions of scholars of color to the study of crime and criminal justice and to the ASC. I do so by pointing out the accomplishments of several African American scholars whose contributions are numerous and exemplary. I also emphasize that African Americans are joined in their efforts by scholars of multiple other colors, including, Latinos/as, Native Americans, and Asians. Second, in view of responses to apparent unrest and racial tension in U.S. society that is signaled by lethal violence between police and U.S. residents of color, I offer four recommendations regarding how we might proceed with our research, and report our findings, in ways that improve the likelihood of helping to inform societal debates and policy developments around crime and justice issues. In my conclusion, I encourage the ASC to 1) continue to grow the diversity of its membership and to integrate the research and findings of scholars of color into the mainstream of criminology; and 2) take further steps to conduct research and share findings with diverse audiences to ensure that post‐truth does not become normative regarding crime and justice issues.     

Racial Composition of Television Offenders and Viewers' Fear of Crime

Scholars, politicians,criminal justice professionals and members ofthe general public frequently link the media tothe United States' crime problem. Although manyscholars have noted the televised constructionof young black males as the stereotypicalcriminal, no study has ever measured how therace-specific content of media messages may berelated to viewers' perceptions and fearsrelating to crime. This article breaks withpast research that analyzes fear of crime byprogram genre, and instead explores the impactof the racial composition of televisionoffenders on viewers' fear of crime. The datainclude a content analysis of twenty-sixcrime-related programs and a telephone surveyof 1492 adults to explore the relationshipbetween television viewing and fear of crime. For African Americans there is a correlationbetween time spent viewing television and fearof crime. For Whites, the relative frequencyof African-American offenders in the televisionprograms is more important for predicting fearof crime than the amount of television theywatch.     

Sex,Gender, Multidimensional Value Space,and Social Cultural Resistance—Afrocentrism

This article examines the applicability of the theory of multidimensional value space by Lynn A. Curtis and the theory of social cultural resistance—Afrocentrism by Daniel E. Georges-Abeyie for explaining so-called Black crime and Black juvenile delinquency in general and Black female crime and Black female juvenile delinquency in particular. It notes that the increase in so-called Black crime and Black juvenile delinquency in general and Black female crime and Black female juvenile delinquency in particular may be illusion, not fact. This article notes that perception, at times illusion, may have, and frequently does have, real outcomes, including criminal justice outcomes and delinquency outcomes. It notes that the so-called Black racial monolith is a fiction that race and ethnicity are distinct entities, as are sex and gender that the so-called Black racial monolith consists of distinct Black ethnic identities. The article notes that Black crime, female and male, and adult and juvenile delinquency may be manifestations of primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy, and dyssocial psychopathy, as noted in the theory of social cultural resistance—Afrocentrism.     

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION,RACIAL SOCIALIZATION,AND CRIME OVER TIME: A SOCIAL SCHEMATIC THEORY MODEL

Recent studies evince that interpersonal racial discrimination (IRD) increases the risk of crime among African Americans and familial racial socialization fosters resilience to discrimination's criminogenic effects. Yet, studies have focused on the short‐term effects of IRD and racial socialization largely among adolescents. In this study, we seek to advance knowledge by elucidating how racialized experiences—in interactions and socialization—influence crime for African Americans over time. Elaborating Simons and Burt's (2011) social schematic theory, we trace the effects of childhood IRD and familial racial socialization on adult offending through cognitive and social pathways and their interplay. We test this life‐course SST model using data from the FACHS, a multisite study of Black youth and their families from ages 10 to 25. Consistent with the model, analyses reveal that the criminogenic consequences of childhood IRD are mediated cognitively by a criminogenic knowledge structure and socially through the nature of social relationships in concert with ongoing offending and discrimination experiences. Specifically, by increasing criminogenic cognitive schemas, IRD decreases embeddedness in supportive romantic, educational, and employment relations, which influence social schemas and later crime. Consonant with expectations, the findings also indicate that racial socialization provides enduring resilience by both compensating for and buffering discrimination's criminogenic effects.     

A SENSE OF INJUSTICE?:

The literature on the impact of processing a defendant through the criminal justice system has long assumed that this experience created a “sense of injustice” for defendants which militated against rehabilitative efforts within correctional settings. The current research examined this assumption with data collected from a sample of inmates in a medium and a maximum security institution within a midwestern state. The findings serve to question the assumption of the development of a sense of injustice, as most inmates perceive themselves as having been treated fairly by the criminal justice system. It is also found that there is little relationship between attitudes toward the preprison criminal justice system and measures of prisonization. The results are discussed in reference to their relevance to the functional and importation models of prisonization.     

MODELING THE EFFECTS OF RACIAL THREAT ON PUNITIVE AND RESTORATIVE SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PRACTICES*

It is clear that schools are mirroring the criminal justice system by becoming harsher toward student misbehavior despite decreases in delinquency. Moreover, Black students consistently are disciplined more frequently and more severely than others for the same behaviors, much in the same way that Black criminals are subjected to harsher criminal punishments than other offenders. Research has found that the racial composition of schools is partially responsible for harsher school discipline just as the racial composition of areas has been associated with punitive criminal justice measures. Yet, no research has explored comprehensively the dynamics involved in how racial threat and other factors influence discipline policies that ultimately punish Black students disproportionately. In this study (N = 294 public schools), structural equation models assess how school racial composition affects school disciplinary policies in light of other influences on discipline and gauge how other possible predictors of school disciplinary policies relate to racial composition of schools, to various school disciplinary policies, and to one another. Findings indicate that schools responding to student misbehavior with one type of discipline tend to use other types of responses as well and that many factors predict the type of disciplinary response used by schools. However, disadvantaged, urban schools with a greater Black, poor, and Hispanic student population are more likely to respond to misbehavior in a punitive manner and less likely to respond in a restorative manner.     

刑事司法的国民基础之实证研究——一项基于城市问卷调查的分析

刑事司法体系需要国民的信任乃至信仰,从而形成真正的司法权威,才能赢得正当性基础,刑事司法改革也才能顺利开展。调查显示,我国城市普通民众对于公安司法机关及其工作人员的信任度有所下滑,认为司法不公和司法腐败并非个别现象,同时,民众的刑事诉讼人权保障意识大为增强,具备了参与刑事司法和监督刑事司法的意愿与能力。     

The masking of racial and ethnic disparity in police use of physical force: The effects of gender and custody status

The purpose of the present study was to examine racial and ethnic disparity in police use of physical force. Data from the Phoenix, Arizona Use-of-Force Project was used to assess disparity between White, Black, and Hispanic citizens. Racial and ethnic disparity in police use of physical force was found only for male citizens not in custody. The findings suggest that assessments of racial and ethnic disparity need to be situationally orientated in the theoretical meaning that race and ethnicity play in modern American society. Simple overall tests of disparity may not be adequate to understand and address the complex effects of race and ethnicity in the criminal justice system; thus, these disparities may lead to situations that further exacerbate already strained minority-majority relations in America.     

Racial prejudice, perceived injustice, and the Black-White gap in punitive attitudes

Conflict theory and previous research suggest that the Black-White difference in support for harsh criminal punishments may be linked to anti-Black prejudice among Whites and perceived injustice among Blacks. Using survey data from the 2001 Race, Crime and Public Opinion Study, this article examines the sources of the racial gap in levels of punitiveness. Two main explanations are tested: perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system and racial prejudice. The results indicate that, together, racial prejudice and perceived racial bias explain the Black-White gap in punitive attitudes.     

Wither Criminal Justice? An Argument for a Reformed Discipline

The American criminal justice system fails to achieve justice, reduce crime, and provide equal protection to Americans regardless of their social class, race, and gender. But, criminal justice as an academic area of study has become a popular and fast growing liberal arts major in the United States, churning out tens of thousands to work in the criminal justice system. Given the demonstrable harms caused by criminal justice, which are suffered disproportionately by the least powerful people, academic criminologists and criminal justicians have the obligation to promote a reformed discipline. This article briefly summarizes the evidence of bias in the criminal justice system and then turns to how these biases relate to criminal justice as an academic discipline. Using the war on drugs as an example, I argue that the practice of criminal justice as an academic endeavor runs counter to the goal of promoting social justice in America. One of the ironic conclusions of this article is that criminal justice as an academic discipline must get smaller if we are to achieve larger goals of social justice outlined here. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Media coverage and public opinion of the O. J. Simpson trial: Implications for the criminal justice system

This article considers some of the beneficial and detrimental influences of media coverage of celebrity criminal trials based on a survey administered during the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson. Analysis indicates those who exhibited a stronger psychological involvement with Simpson developed through repeated media exposure were more likely to believe his innocence. African American respondents also were more likely to believe in Simpson's innocence than were others. Gender had no effect on beliefs of Simpson's guilt or innocence. Those with a strong belief in the fairness of the United States justice system more strongly supported unrestricted media coverage of the trial. Anglo Americans more than African Americans believed Simpson's lawyers used the media effectively for their advantage. Learning about the justice system by following the case resulted in increased interpersonal discussions about the legal system.     

REASSESSING TRENDS IN BLACK VIOLENT CRIME, 1980–2008: SORTING OUT THE “HISPANIC EFFECT” IN UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS ARRESTS,NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY OFFENDER ESTIMATES,AND U.S. PRISONER COUNTS*

Recent studies suggest a decline in the relative Black effect on violent crime in recent decades and interpret this decline as resulting from greater upward mobility among African Americans during the past several decades. However, other assessments of racial stratification in American society suggest at least as much durability as change in Black social mobility since the 1980s. Our goal is to assess how patterns of racial disparity in violent crime and incarceration have changed from 1980 to 2008. We argue that prior studies showing a shrinking Black share of violent crime might be in error because of reliance on White and Black national crime statistics that are confounded with Hispanic offenders, whose numbers have been increasing rapidly and whose violence rates are higher than that of Whites but lower than that of Blacks. Using 1980–2008 California and New York arrest data to adjust for this “Hispanic effect” in national Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data, we assess whether the observed national decline in racial disparities in violent crime is an artifact of the growth in Hispanic populations and offenders. Results suggest that little overall change has occurred in the Black share of violent offending in both UCR and NCVS estimates during the last 30 years. In addition, racial imbalances in arrest versus incarceration levels across the index violent crimes are both small and comparably sized across the study period. We conclude by discussing the consistency of these findings with trends in economic and social integration of Blacks in American society during the past 50 years.     

Race,Ethnicity, and Perceived Minority Police Presence: Examining Perceptions of Criminal Injustice Among Los Angeles Residents

Although the conventional wisdom holds that increasing the number of minority officers will enhance residents' perceptions of police and the criminal justice system, further systematic investigation of this hypothesis may be needed. Building on the group‐position thesis, the representative bureaucracy theory, and prior research, this study investigates whether perceived minority police presence within residents' neighborhoods affects residents' perceptions of criminal injustice, whether this effect is more pronounced for minority residents and in minority neighborhoods, and whether perceived minority police presence has a stronger effect on perceptions of criminal injustice for minority residents in more integrated and white neighborhoods than minority residents in minority neighborhoods. Analyses of data collected from Los Angeles, CA, show that residents perceive a lower level of criminal injustice when they report that officers in their neighborhoods are not white‐dominated, and this finding is not dependent on the respondent's race/ethnicity or the racial/ethnic composition of the neighborhood. In addition, perceived minority police presence seems to have a weak to no effect on residents' perceptions of criminal injustice for Hispanic communities. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.     

Long-term criminal justice response to human trafficking in south africa: an impossible mission

ABSTRACT

This article explores the propriety of long-term efforts of the South African criminal justice system in combating human trafficking. Though a crime of global dimension, human trafficking has been a reverberating issue of concern to the South African State. Steps have been taken by the State to address this menace, especially from the legal standpoint, and the enlistment of human trafficking among crimes that require an effective criminal justice approach to deal with; yet, the menace has persisted. From a broader doctoral study, using qualitative method, it was discovered (amongst others) that as currently structured, the South African criminal justice system cannot effect a long-term combating strategies against human trafficking. Findings also indicate that the solution to the precipitating factors that fuel the trade in human commodity lies outside the scope and mandate of the criminal justice system. The study further recommends that for an effective response, it is expedient for the State to first address the socio-economic, cultural and political nuances that fuel the trade, rather than mount impracticable pressure on its criminal justice institutions to perform an unrealistic task.