NCJ Number
181542
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2000 Pages: 114-118
Date Published
January 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This comparison of four recent studies of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system concludes that the relationship between race and punishment has been under-theorized, that criminologists therefore have few tools with which to critique racism in crime and punishment, and that findings are applicable to other criminal justice systems.
Abstract
The four books focus on racial discrimination involving black persons. The books were published in 1996, 1997, and 1998. The authors include William Benjamin, Catherine Fisher Collins, Randall Kennedy, and Jerome Miller. The authors all believe that there is systemic bias in policing, probation, and imprisonment; all recommend policy changes and reforms. Collins and Kennedy are academics; Benjamin and Miller are criminal justice practitioners. All pose and answer questions empirically. However, they tend to ignore the ideological, as distinct from practical, ways in which notions of race underpin and legitimate the criminal justice system as a whole; they do not operate at an epistemological level. The area of critical race studies and the work of cultural theorist Paul Gilroy offer guidance for analyzing race and punishment. Making some theoretical connection between race and punishment and documenting the historical interdependence of these concepts will be the only way for criminologists to re-examine assumptions about race and criminality. 6 references