Race and Crime: What Evidence Is There That Race Influences Results in the Criminal Justice System?

• NCJ Number: 112522
• Journal: Judicature Volume: 72 Issue: 2 Dated: (August-September 1988) Pages: 111-113
• Author(s): N Morris
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Adapted from an address to the joint luncheon of the American Judicature Society and the National Conference of Bar Presidents on August 6, 1988, in Toronto.

Annotation

Studies suggest there is measurable racial discrimination in police, prosecutorial, and sentencing practices, but the bulk of discrimination impacting the disproportionate representation of blacks in criminal justice processing is the increasing social isolation of an increasingly concentrated black underclass.

Abstract

Alfred Blumstein and Joan Petersilia conclude that about 80 percent of the black overrepresentation in prison can be explained by differential involvement in crime and about 20 percent by subsequent racially discriminatory processes. There is clear discrimination in the application of capital punishment, primarily through prosecutorial discretion, as blacks who kill whites are more likely to receive the death penalty than whites who kill blacks. Data also support an element of racial prejudice in the police shootings of suspected felons. Some remedies for racial discrimination in the criminal justice system are community policing; more resourceful police leadership; changes in the structure of policing to protect minorities; and the weeding out of discrimination in prosecution, plea bargaining, and sentencing.