Learning to be a ‘Safe’ ex-con: race,symbolic violence and discipline in prisoner re-entry

This article seeks to investigate the ways in which conceptions of race and interact with symbolic violence, discipline and governmentality to produce a responsibilized subject willing to participate in the racialized forms of deference necessary for participation in the secondary labor market. It is based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a Career Development class in an agency that serves formerly incarcerated individuals who are primarily African American males. In order to meet job placement goals, the agency has focused job development efforts on the secondary labor market. The article focuses on the tensions that develop as program staff attempt to prepare class participants to accept these positions.     

Police use of force: an examination of the minority threat perspective

The minority threat perspective suggests that the criminal justice system may be one mechanism through which the majority group (i.e. Whites) maintains control of culturally dissimilar minority groups. Although numerous studies have examined the relationship between minority representation and various policing outcomes, few have extended this research to police use of force in the context of stop-and-frisk practices. Using stop, question, and frisk data from the New York Police Department, this study examines (1) whether racial and ethnic composition influences police use of force, and (2) whether an individual’s race/ethnicity interacts with the racial/ethnic composition of a police precinct to produce disparities in police use of force. The results provide partial support for the minority threat perspective.     

Disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system: An investigation of ethnic disparity in program referral at disposition

Historically, minority youth have experienced harsher punishments and more negative outcomes than White youth even when risk assessment is used. The current study investigated the role of ethnicity in an understudied dispositional decision–program referral–and the outcomes associated with said referral using a sample of juvenile offenders (N = 2,678). The study used the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) to determine (1) if ethnicity predicted program referral when accounting for risk assessment and (2) if program referral predicted recidivism. Results indicated that ethnicity predicted program referral, and program referral predicted recidivism. Future directions for Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) research and implications for court officials are discussed.     

Investigating perceptions of race and ethnic diversity among prospective police officers

Many have suggested police diversity will improve police-community relations, but research testing this hypothesis is inconclusive. We investigated perceptions of police race, ethnicity, and diversity in a heterogeneous sample of prospective police officers. Data are drawn from interviews with 42 criminal justice college students in the Southwestern United States, of which 15 were Hispanic, and who each wanted to become a police officer. Participants supported diversity in policing, and collectively expressed a belief that race plays a central role in policing today. Furthermore, participants expressed support for the ideals of both passive and active representative bureaucracy. Hispanics in the sample in particular anticipated they would positively affect police relations in Hispanic neighborhoods and encourage immigrants to cooperate with police.     

Are There Ethnic Differences in Levels of Psychopathy? A Meta-Analysis

Although considerable research on psychopathy has been conducted over the past 30 years, relatively few studies have examined key issues related to potential ethnic differences in this constellation of socially maladaptive personality traits. Given recent sociopolitical and scientific developments, an issue of considerable debate is whether Black individuals possess "more" traits of psychopathy than do Whites. To address this issue, a meta-analysis of differences between these groups' scores on the Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991) was performed, using 21 studies (N = 8,890) of correctional, substance abuse, and psychiatric samples. Blacks exceeded Whites by an average of less than 1 point on the PCL-R total score. Effect sizes for core interpersonal and affective traits of psychopathy (Factor 1) were sufficiently homogeneous to clearly interpret, although other features manifested statistically significant heterogeneity. Our finding that Blacks and Whites do not meaningfully differ in their levels of core psychopathic traits is consistent with community-based findings for self-report measures of psychopathy and clinical diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder.     

Racial and Ethnic Minority High School Students' Perceptions of School Disciplinary Practices: A Look at Some Canadian Findings

This study examined perceptions of differential treatment relating to school disciplinary practices in a racially and ethnically diverse sample (Black, South Asian, Asian, White, and other racial/ethnic background) of high school students (N = 1870). Participants completed detailed individual questionnaires assessing general perceptions of school disciplinary practices and various aspects of the school environment. Results indicated that racial/ethnic minority students are much more likely than White students to perceive discrimination with respect to teacher treatment, school suspension, use of police by school authorities, and police treatment at school. Multivariate analyses revealed that such perceptions are particular strong for Black students. In addition, a number of other variables such as gender, socioeconomic status, age of immigration, and views of school climate also predicted students' perceptions of differential treatment toward members of their racial/ethnic group. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

From Politics to Economics at the Thai–Cambodian Border: Plus Ça Change...

This paper looks at border relations between Thais and Cambodians over the last thirty years, in the context of the developing Thai polity and economy. It considers the salience of both ethnicity and nationality in shaping Thai interactions with Khmers. It suggests that as the threat of violent regional conflict diminished, the shared border came to represent important economic opportunities for both Thais and Cambodians. However, rhetorics of national interest and regional development notwithstanding, the beneficiaries of this transnational trade are neither nation nor state, but specific interest groups working through the structures of government and military on both sides of the border.     

Understanding ethnicity-based autonomy movements in India's northeastern region

Soon after independence, India's northeastern region was swamped in a series of conflicts starting with the Naga secessionist movement in the 1950s, followed by others in the 1960s. The conflicts intensified and engulfed the entire region in the 1970s and 1980s. However, in the 1990s, following reclamation of ethnic identities amid gnawing scarcities, the conflicts slowly turned into internal feuds. Consequently, alliance and re-alliance among the ethnic groups transpired. In the 2000s, it finally led to the balkanization of ethnicity-based autonomy movements in the region. Unfortunately, the state's ad-hoc measures failed to contain protected conflicts and, instead, compounded the situation and swelled hybrid ethnic identities.     

The evolution of the New Patriotic Party in Ghana

This paper examines the emergence and development of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in the context of a broader examination of the roles of political parties within the Ghanaian political landscape. After describing the political architecture as well as some significant constitutional issues of Ghana's democracy and the roles played by other societal stakeholders, the paper examines the rationale for the formation of the NPP, its manifesto, structure, constituency, power brokers. It then analyses various aspects of the implementation (or not) of the NPP's political and economic objectives since it came to power in 2000 with a message of ‘positive change’. The electoral politics of the campaigns against its major opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and issues of regionalism, ethnicity and other factors are considered in detail. The paper concludes with some lessons learned and generic recommendations for emerging African political parties in relatively young democracies.     

¿Quién le teme a las diásporas y por qué?

Theoretical and analytical systematic and comprehensive consideration of diasporism and diasporas is relatively recent. The first systematic analyses appeared during the 1980s so there are still significant loopholes in their research and examination, as well as in the development of an overall outlook on diasporism and diasporas. As a result, there are also obstacles to a thorough understanding of the phenomenon. After reviewing the existing literature on diasporism and diasporas it is clear that an understanding of diasporas in general and particularly of both their recent involvement in politics, terrorism, and criminal activities in the receiving country, and their cultural, social, and political contributions of the countries of origin and destination is still far from being exhaustive. With the aim of presenting a detailed account of the peculiarities of this phenomenon, this paper describes and analyses the diasporic process in its entirety, going beyond the conventional views that have significantly hindered and limited the scope of the debate on the ethno-national-religious diasporic process in general, and on the contributions or threats generated by diasporas in the receiving countries.