NCJ Number
120800
Editor(s)
M C Simms,
S L Myers Jr
Date Published
1988
Length
230 pages
Annotation
This compilation of articles by and about blacks explores criminal justice and economics and emerging intellectual tensions associated with race and crime.
Abstract
The articles contain important seeds of current thinking about crime and economics, underscoring research on why blacks are so criminal and how the criminal justice system is so black. Particular attention is paid to the disproportionality of crime and imprisonment among blacks in the South and blacks' status in economic and political spheres. Two trends are pursued, the first of which is an attempt to push microeconometric modeling as far as possible to explain criminal behavior. This trend hypothesizes that, while official data show greater criminal involvement among blacks than whites, the real culprit involves opportunities. The second trend is an attempt to see macroscopically the process of imprisonment as a form of labor market equilibrating device. Blacks and whites do experience different criminal justice outcomes in this view but not simply because blacks are more prone to crime. The articles specifically deal with black crime and criminality, social science research on blacks and law enforcement, the inequality of criminal justice, the relation between criminal activity and black youth employment, rational choice models of crime by youth, unemployment and racial differences in imprisonment, political business cycles and imprisonment rates in Italy, and crime and employment research. 216 references, 34 tables, 8 figures.