NCJ Number
165387
Date Published
1996
Length
270 pages
Annotation
This overview of African Americans in the criminal justice system addresses the black experience in America, theoretical explanations of African-American involvement in crime, African- American involvement with the police and the judicial system, incarcerated African-Americans, African-Americans as social control agents, and the future of race and criminal justice.
Abstract
An introductory chapter provides an overview of African- Americans as perpetrators of crime, victims of crime, and agents of social control. The second chapter provides an historical account of the black experience in America during the antebellum and postbellum periods. This chapter also discusses current relations between African-Americans and whites. Chapter 3 examines theoretical explanations of African-American crime, as it analyzes selected sociological, social psychological, psychological, and biological theories of race and crime; minority views on crime are also presented. The fourth chapter considers African-American encounters with the police and judicial system. Some of the topics discussed are police discretion in arrest decisions, police use of force against African-Americans, African-American involvement in the juvenile justice system, and African-American involvement in the criminal justice system; racial disparities in sentencing are addressed as well. A chapter on incarcerated African-Americans focuses on explanations of racial disparity in prison and the black experience in prison life. The chapter on African-Americans as agents of social control considers their representation as police officers, correctional officers, judges, and jurors. The concluding chapter on the future of race and criminal justice assesses demographic trends and the "war on drugs" and their impact on African-Americans' involvement in the criminal justice system. It evaluates the status of current research on race and criminal justice and offers suggestions for increasing African- American participation in criminology and the administration of the criminal justice system. Chapter notes and tables, a 432-item bibliography, and name and subject indexes