NCJ Number
169893
Editor(s)
B A Hudson
Date Published
1996
Length
445 pages
Annotation
The essays collected in this volume represent the most significant findings, theoretical perspectives, and controversies which have been published in North American and British journals during the 1980's and 1990's on the important and politically contentious topics of race, crime, and criminal justice.
Abstract
Disproportionate imprisonment rates in several countries have promoted a great deal of investigation into whether the high minority imprisonment rate is the result of disproportionately high rates of black crime or the result of discriminatory processing by police, courts, probation services, and other criminal justice agencies. A rather tentative consensus has emerged that some imprisonment is clearly attributable to discrimination at sentencing. On the other hand, much of the disproportionate imprisonment results because imprisonment rates for economically disadvantaged minority groups, as measured by arrests and convictions, are higher than for white majority populations. Explanations of high black crime rates are offered that focus on biological influences, underclass theory, and marginalization. The four sections of the book look at whether courts discriminate; crime, policing, and racial unrest; personality, cultural, and structural circumstances of black crime; and race and gender. References, notes, tables, and figures