|
Weeks
12 and 13
Web Links for Review:
Backfire:
When Incarceration Increases Crime
Bearing the Burden: How Incarceration Weakens Inner City Communities
Incarceration
Rates by Race
Required Readings:
Permeation of Race, National Origin and Gender
Issues from Initial Law Enforcement Contact through Sentencing:
The Need for Sensitivity, Equalitarianism and Vigilance in the
Criminal Justice System, Arthur L. Burnett, American Criminal
Law Review Summer 1994 31 n4 p1153-1175 (search by the authors
name)
DWB Driving While Black, Joy Bennett Kinnon,
Ebony Sept 1999 v54 i11 p62
Metro
State Home Page
How
to Access These Articles
PDF Files for Review:
Minorities
and the Juvenile Justice System
To read these files you will need the Adobe Acrobat
Reader. If you do not have on your computer, download a free copy
here.
Colorado (DOC and State Statistics):
Ethnicity
|
Race:
|
Colorado Population
|
Percent in Prison
|
| Anglo |
81%
|
44.0%
|
| Hispanic |
12.9%
|
26.7%
|
| African American |
3.9%
|
23.7%
|
| Native American |
.7%
|
1.9%
|
| Asian American |
1.7%
|
0.6%
|
| Unknown/other |
.1%
|
3.1%
|
|
Segment Requirements
|
Assignment
|
| Learning
Objectives: |
-
Gain knowledge of the involvement of
minorities in the juvenile justice system.
-
Develop an understanding of the implications
of the issues.
-
Develop strategies to work towards
solutions.
|
| Review Topics: |
- What will the future impact of the nature of the current
incarceration rates be for the United States.
- What are the primary causes of minority overrepresentation
in the criminal justice system?
|
| Discussion
Topics: |
- Which, if any, laws lead to the greatest disparity in
the incarceration rates among the different races?
|
| Writing
Requirement: |
- Which strategies have the greatest opportunity for successful
change in the justice system?
|
| Review Questions |
- Describe racial profiling as used by police officers.
- Are African-Americans over represented in the justice
system?
Text
Answers
|
Click these icons to listen to audio answers.
Additional Information:
Disparity versus Discrimination:
Disparity: A difference, but not discrimination.
Discrimination: Differential treatment
of groups without reference to an individual's behavior or qualifications.
Additional Definitions:
Systemic Discrimination: Discrimination at all
stages of the criminal justice system at all times and all places.
Institutionalized Discrimination:
Racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes
that are the result of the application of racially neutral facts
such as prior criminal record, employment status, demeanor,
etc.
Contextual Discrimination:
Discrimination found in particular contexts
or circumstances (e.g., certain regions, particular crimes,
special victim-offender relationships).
Individual Acts of Discrimination:
Discrimination that results from the acts
of particular individuals but is not characteristic of entire
agencies or the criminal justice system as a whole.
Some theorists have offered ideas why
there are differences among the various races. They include:
Conflict Theory:
There is a conflict between the majority - whites
and the minority groups.
Consensus Theory:
That crime is explained by individual
acts of deviancy.
For additional information please review
a basic sociology text, or an introduction to criminal justice
systems text.
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