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.     

Courting Custom: Regulating Access to Justice in Rural South Africa and Malawi

The continued relevance of customary law for the regulation of the daily lives of Africa's citizens poses serious governance challenges to sovereign states, such as how best to regulate customary dispute settlement. While confronted with largely similar problems, the South African government proposed to enhance and regulate the position of its traditional courts, whereas Malawi has opted for the creation of hybrid local courts that combine characteristics of regular state courts and customary fora to be the main avenue of customary law cases. This paper analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches and displays how the two countries’ historical and political contexts enable and constrain their regulatory choices in the field of customary dispute settlement, as well as influence the risk and benefits of the various options. In this respect, the political power of the traditional leaders is a significant determinant.     

Crime and Justice in Japan: Implications for the United States

Examining official statistics from the United States since the mid-1960's, we see rapidly increasing rates of crime. Japan, on the other hand, has experienced rates that have dramatically declined during this same period. In fact, Japan is the only industrialized non-communist nation where crime has been decreasing. This paper summarizes the structural/cultural and justice related reasons for this phenomenon. Implications for the United States are specified.     

Perceptual Biases, Graffiti and Fraternity Crime: Points of Deflection that Distort Social Justice

Although the official, law-enforcement policy in Bloomington, Indiana, categorized graffiti as vandalism, prominently displayed graffiti produced by Indiana University's student organizations escaped criminalization. This article documents the differential, criminal justice treatment of graffiti vandalism based on the group producing it thereby reaffirming the existence of a class-based system of justice. This article also uncovers a hidden bias inherent in Chambliss' “The Saints and the Roughnecks” by arguing that university students, whose graffiti do not receive negative sanctioning, represent Saints at the college level who exhibit criminal behavior. University-level lessons about how the crimes of the privileged go unprosecuted or become transformed into civil rather than criminal events could very well pave the way for further crimes after graduation rather than the “Saintly” adulthood implied by Chambliss. More research into the alternate system of justice used with regard to university students could shed light on both the problems and possibilities encountered when implementing alternate systems of social justice. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Corruption as an International Crime and Crime against Humanity: An Outline of Supplementary Criminal Justice Policies

Transnational corruption has in recent years been elevated toan international offence but in practical terms it is not consideredserious enough in order for heads of state or cabinet membersto be prosecuted in foreign jurisdictions. There is evidenceto suggest that, in certain cases, corruption may take the formof a crime against humanity. This possibility extends significantlythe jurisdictional ambit of national courts and empowers theInternational Criminal Court to consider a case. Moreover, therestorative component of such criminal prosecutions should aimat restoring, through civil mechanisms, the funds illegallyappropriated to their rightful recipients, the defrauded localpopulations, under the principle of self-determination.