NCJ Number
48199
Date Published
1976
Length
9 pages
Annotation
THE HISTORICAL MILIEUS SURROUNDING CRIMES COMMITED IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY, THE USE OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM BY WHITES WITH REFERENCE TO BLACKS, AND HISTORICAL STATISTICS ON BLACK CRIME ARE EXAMINED.
Abstract
BETWEEN 1890 AND 1900, IT IS INDICATED THAT THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE SOUTH DESIGNED AND PASSED APPRENTICE AND VAGRANCY LAWS WHICH WERE USED TO MAKE FREE BLACKS AND THEIR CHILDREN WORK FOR THEIR FORMER MASTERS AT LOW WAGES. LAWS WERE ENACTED THAT AUTHORIZED PUBLIC OFFICIALS TO LEASE THE LABOR OF CONVICTS, MOST OF WHOM WERE BLACK, TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM WAS THUS USED BY WHITES TO CONTROL BLACKS AND EXPLOIT THEM FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES. THIS INTERACTION OF BLACKS WITH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM HELPED CREATE THE IMAGE OF BLACKS AS CRIMINALS IN THE MIND OF THE WHITE MAJORITY, WHILE CONDITIONING BLACKS TO MISTRUST THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. REPORTS FROM THE DELIBERATIONS OF BLACK CONFERENCES HELD TO CONSIDER THE CRIME PROBLEM AMONG BLACKS IN THE LATTER PART OF THE 19TH AND EARLY PART OF THE 20TH CENTURIES ARE QUOTED TO SHOW THAT RESPONSIBLE LEADERS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY WERE DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT CRIME AMONG BLACKS AND THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS STIMULATING IT. STATISTICS ON IMPRISONMENTS FROM 1904 ARE REPORTED TO SHOW THAT BLACKS HAD A LOWER PERCENTAGE OF CRIME INVOLVEMENT THAN DID EMIGRANT GROUPS. THESE STATISTICS ARE USED WITH THE INTENTION OF CORRECTING THE IMPRESSION THAT BLACKS CONSTITUTED A MAJOR CRIMINAL ELEMENT IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. CLOSE EXAMINATION OF HISTORICAL STATISTICAL DATA RELATING TO BLACKS AND CRIME IS URGED, AND SOURCE MATERIALS ON CRIME CONSIDERED IMPORTANT BUT USUALLY NEGLECTED BY RESEARCHERS ARE LISTED. (RCB)