Race and decision making within juvenile justice: The importance of context

Previous tests of the influence of race on decision making within juvenile justice proceedings have traditionally focused on case-level variables and/or macrolevel factors that characterize the jurisdictions under study. Often excluded are measures of the attitudinal context within which decision making occurs. Using a revised conflict perspective that incorporates the role of racial stereotyping, hypotheses are developed centering on racial differences in case processing decisions within four midwest jurisdictions. Attitudes of juvenile court officials toward the punitiveness of the juvenile court and perceptions regarding differences between the behavior and attitudes of whites and those of African Americans are included in additive and race interactive models of five decision-making stages. Results indicate both lenient and harsh treatment of African Americans compared to whites. Hypotheses regarding racial stereotyping in the decision-making process receive some support and the discussion focuses on how inconsistent racial effects may be a function of variation in structural “coupling” across system decision points.     

RACIAL TYPIFICATION OF CRIME AND SUPPORT FOR PUNITIVE MEASURES

This paper assesses whether support for harsh punitive policies toward crime is related to the racial typification of crime for a national random sample of households (N=885), surveyed in 2002. Results from OLS regression show that the racial typification of crime is a significant predictor of punitiveness, independent of the influence of racial prejudice, conservatism, crime salience, southern residence and other factors. This relationship is shown to be concentrated among whites who are either less prejudiced, not southern, conservative and for whom crime salience is low. The results broaden our understanding of the links between racial threat and social control, beyond those typically associated with racial composition of place. They also resonate important themes in what some have termed modern racism and what others have described as the politics of exclusion.     

‘Demonstrative Evidence’: A Genealogy of the Racial Iconography of Forensic Art and Illustration

This essay stages a critique of the unacknowledged racialising visual regimes that inform forensic pathologys typical body charts. In order to disclose these unacknowledged regimes, I stage a genealogy of the racialising iconography that continues to shape forensic pathologys visual texts. In drawing attention to the racialising visual conventions that constitute the contemporary production of caucacentric forensic body charts, I attempt to disrupt the scientifico-objective status of these visual artefacts in order to underscore their ideological effects. By focusing on the ontological/epistemological split between the corporeality of native informants and white knowledge workers, I underscore the white medico-legal professions historical transmuting of other bodies into objects of knowledge. I conclude by outlining the discursive effects of presenting forensic pathologys caucacentric body charts as demonstrative evidence within the court of law.This is an extended version of an essay first presented at the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities Conference, Cardozo Law School, New York University, New York, USA, March 2003. My thanks to Peter Goodrich and Penelope Pether for their generous enthusiasm and support.     

Older and more recent evidence on racial discrimination in sentencing

Examination of previous studies of racial discrimination in sentencing indicates more widespread evidence of discrimination than allowed in three separate reviews by M. J. Hindelang [(1969).J. Crim. Law Criminal. Police Sci. 60: 306–313], J. Hagan [(1975). InThe Aldine Crime and Justice Annual, Aldine, Chicago], and G. Kleck [(1981).Am. Social. Rev. 46: 783-805]. It is not the case, as these reviewers suggest, that racial discrimination is a thing of the past, shown almost exclusively for capital offences from the American South, and often supported only because relevant legal variables were not controlled. In addition, analysis of recent (1977) data from a non-Southern state (Pennsylvania) covering noncapital offenses and including recommended controls shows that evidence of racial disparity in sentencing is revealed more clearly when separate analyses are conducted within levels of urbanization. The labeling perspective and conflict theory guide our interpretation.     

关于收入分配差距问题的若干理论综述

西方经济学界对于收入分配差距问题的思考由来已久,关于收入分配差距的经济理论不断丰富。改革开放以来,我国的收入分配差距不断拉大,很多学者针对中国当前的收入分配差距状况,发表真知灼见。笔者将时国内外关于收入分配差距的变动趋势问题、公平与效率问题、扩大程度问题等若干重要理论进行梳理和评析。     

“Mitigating Instigation”: Cultural Phenomenological Influences of Anger and Fighting Among “Big-Boned” and “Baby-Faced” African American Youth

While the violent behavior of youth continues to strike fear in the hearts of American citizens, researchers still are unable to make sense of interpersonal and ecological cultural factors that mitigate anger acted out toward others and turned inward. A cultural phenomenological perspective was applied to investigate if self- and other-perceived physical maturity and racial socialization experiences were influential in the expressions of anger and aggression among African American youth. Cross-validation of self-reports of fighting variables was found. Results indicate that the initiation and frequency of fighting behavior is higher for boys, youth who look physically mature, who report lower levels of calamity fear, lower levels of racial socialization, higher levels of anger acting out, and lower levels of anger control. Racial socialization is proposed as 1 way to manage cultural ecological demands that may lead to the use of aggression. Implications for community psychological intervention of violence are proposed.     

教育资源不均衡对收入差异影响研究

中国近几十年在取得经济快速发展的同时,收入差异也在不断扩大。教育对社会及个人财富增长来说,都有十分重要的意义。运用国家统计数据进行实汪,发现中国教育资源存在区域不平衡和城乡不平衡等问题,它加剧了区域收入差异、城乡收入差异和群体收入差异扩大的趋势。建议：进一步提高认识;进一步加大投入;进一步完善制度。     

基于重心模型与泰勒系数的陕西省空间差异

文章通过重心模型以及泰勒系数对陕西省1989—2006年区域增长格局与地区差距进行了实证分析。分析结果表明,国家西部大开发战略实施以后陕北地区增速明显加快,区域增长重心持续向东北转移;通过泰勒系数及其分解的演变显示,三大地区间差距持续不断扩大,并且地区间差距的扩大快于总体经济差距的扩大。地带内的差距一直是影响陕西区域差距的主要影响力量,但是各地带内部地区经济差距在1995年之后呈现不同的特征。通过分析我们也注意到在1999—2006年陕北地区迅速崛起的同时,伴随区域增长格局“热点”的转移。热点区域内的地区差距会存在一个缩小的趋势,但是局部实证的结论能否适用于更大的范围区域内还需要进一步的检验。     

从自由到平等:美国言论自由的现代转型

自1960年代开始,美国言论自由开启了从经典时期向现代的转型。在色情作品、仇恨言论和竞选经费三个领域,言论自由分别与性别平等、种族平等和财富平等正面相遇。通过把"平等"价值引入言论自由这一转型,使色情作品、仇恨言论和竞选经费从单纯的自由问题变为平等与自由间的平衡;同时,为了促进平等,它还强调法律和政策应告别形式中立,必须向弱势群体有所倾斜。这一转型相当于一场言论自由的"新政",终结了言论自由的洛克纳时代,重塑了言论自由的范式和议程,并对当代言论自由的发展产生持续和深远的影响。     

Critical Experiential Learning in the Native American Community for Title IV-E Students: A Pilot Evaluation

This article describes the development, implementation of, and outcomes associated with a specialized seminar designed to increase contextual and historical knowledge necessary for work with Native American families in the child welfare system and to increase students' personal and professional growth in this capacity. Findings from a 2-year pilot evaluation revealed that students' knowledge significantly increased over time compared with that of their non-participating peers. Seminar participation also led to personal and professional growth. Findings suggest that critical experiential learning significantly enhances traditional pedagogy for graduate social workers preparing to work in child welfare, a field plagued with disparity.