Race and crime

1. Race and crime • One in three African American males ages 20-29 are under some form of correctional supervision in the U.S. • Proportion has doubled since WW II • Also victimized at higher rates

2. Prison populations • In 1926, 75-80% of inmates were white • Today, around 50% • 1926: about 20% of inmates were African American • Now around 50% • Gap began to narrow noticeably in the 1970s

3. Theoretical explanations • Biological unlikely—does not account for the changes • Poorer prenatal care and nutrition might contribute a biological factor, but there are social roots to this problem • Most explanations sociological

4. Theoretical explanations • Moynihan report • Economic factors • Poverty (1/2 of AF Am children live below the poverty line); Hispanics • Barriers to employment and education • However, do not explain the increase • Relative deprivation

5. Income distribution • 1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth • The top 20% own 80% of the wealth • The top 20% have become wealthier over the last 40 years • The bottom 20% has lost ground

6. Theoretical explanations • Ecological research: migration from the rural South beginning in the 1920s and 1930s. • Durkheim and alienation • Culture conflict, Conflict theory • Examples of conflict theory

7. The role of the CJS • 14th amendment guarantees equal protection • Post Civil War amendment • Rules out arbitrary and unreasonable government classifications • Does not prohibit “reasonable” classifications (I.e., children v. adults)

8. 14th amendment • There must be a relationship between classification and a legitimate governmental purpose • If a law impinges on a fundamental right, then the state must have a “compelling state interest” • Suspect classifications: race, national origin, illegitimacy, gender (??)

9. Police • Most riots in U.S. have been sparked by incidents involving the police • Young low-income men have the most negative views of the police • Police brutality • Stop and frisks • Searches (more likely to get caught)

10. Police • Profiling

11. Courts • Jury selection • Challenges for cause and peremptory challenges • Swain v. Alabama • Reversed in Batson v. KY: race based peremptory challenges violated EP • Little effect

12. Courts • Legal representation • Much of the debate has been over private v. public defenders • Not a consistent pattern. The research does not get at quality of representation • Bail

13. Plea bargaining • Prosecutors more willing to offer concession for less serious crimes, fewer priors, weak evidence • A number of studies suggest that whites get better deals, although studies in some states find that it makes no difference • “Substantial assistance”

14. Juvenile Justice • Minorities more likely to be formally processed • More likely to be transferred to adult court

15. Sentencing • Partially dependent on race of victim and offender • Majority of crime is intraracial • (exception: Native American Indians) • For some types of crimes, sentencing of African American is longer if the victim is white

16. Sentencing • For some very serious crimes, race appears to make little difference • Death penalty • Baldus study • A minority murderer with a white victim were more likely to get the death penalty

17. Death penalty • Race of the victim, rather than the offender, had the greatest impact on the outcome • McKlesky v Kemp (1987) • Used this study to challenge the imposition of the death penalty • Court ruled that he had not shown discrimination in his individual case

18. Conclusions • Pure justice to systematic discrimination • U.S. in the middle • Minorities treated more harshly at some stages, no differently at others • Variation from jurisdiction to jurisdiction