Race, Crime, and Justice The Continuing American Dilemma

Brief, timely, and accessible, Race, Crime, and Justice: The Continuing American Dilemma examines many critical issues including why, over the past few decades, African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans were swept into jails and prisons at rates far beyond their share of the national population. Steven E. Barkan explores racial/ethnic disparities in criminal justice involvement; discrimination in policing, prosecution, and sentencing; the rise and collateral consequences of mass incarceration; racial bias in news media coverage of crime; racial/ethnic differences in rates of criminal behavior and victimization; and social and criminal justice policies that, if successfully implemented, would help correct many of the injustices in the criminal justice system.

About the Series
Keynotes in Criminology and Criminal Justice provides essential knowledge on important contemporary matters of crime, law, and justice to a broad audience of readers. Volumes are written by leading scholars in that area. Concise, accessible, and affordable, these texts are designed to serve either as primers around which courses can be built or as supplemental books for a variety of courses.

Steven E. Barken is Chair and Professor of Sociology at the University of Maine.

Henry N. Pontell is a Distinguished Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York.

Each chapter ends with a Summary and Key Terms.
Chapter 1. Race, Crime, and Justice in American Society
The Continuing American Dilemma
Defining Some Concepts
Race and Ethnicity
Racial Prejudice and Racial Stereotypes
Racial Discrimination
Race and Criminal Justice Involvement
Imprisonment
Jail Inmates
The Correctional Population
A Critical Question
Two Additional Facts to Keep in Mind
How We Got Where We Are
The Get-Tough Approach and Mass Incarceration
The Legal War on Drugs
Race and the Collateral Consequences of Mass Incarceration
Consequences for Offenders
Consequences for Families
Consequences for Communities
Chapter 2. Race and Public Opinion about Crime and Justice
Racial Biases in News Media Coverage of Crime
Research Findings on Racial Bias in Crime Coverage
Impact of Racial Bias in Crime Coverage
Racial Differences in Public Opinion about Crime and Justice
Racial Differences in the Everyday Lives of Americans
Race and Fear of Crime
Race, Racial Prejudice, and Punitiveness
Race and Views about Police
Race and Perceptions of Criminal Justice System Injustice
Race and Explanations for Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice Involvement
Summarizing Racial Differences in Public Opinion
Chapter 3. Race and Criminal Behavior
Evidence of Racial Differences in Criminal Behavior
Race and Arrest
Victimization Data
Self-Report Data
Summarizing Race and Differential Involvement
Explaining Racial Differences in Criminal Behavior
Rejecting Racist Explanations
Crime and the Social Structure
Parenting and Antisocial Behavior
Racial Mistreatment, Perceptions of Injustice, and Criminal Behavior
Urban Life and the Code of the Street
Summarizing Explanations for Racial Differences in Criminal Behavior
Postscript: Why Racial Differences in Criminal Behavior are Not Stronger
White-Collar Crime: Race and Criminal Offending Revisited
Chapter 4. Race and Criminal Victimization
Racial Differences in Criminal Victimization
Homicide
Nonfatal Violent Crime and Property Crime
The Intraracial Nature of Criminal Victimization
Explaining Criminal Victimization
Structural Factors and Criminal Victimization
Individual Factors and Criminal Victimization
Summarizing Reasons for Racial Differences in Criminal Victimization
Why Racial Differences in Criminal Victimization are Significant
Chapter 5. Race and Policing
A Look Back to the Past
Previewing the Discussion
Understanding Racial/Ethnic Discrimination in Criminal Justice
Focusing on Police and Policing
Race and Stops and Searches
Selected Studies of Racial Profiling
Racial Profiling or Only Racial Disparity?
Race and Arrest
Evidence on Race and Arrest
Race and Arrest for Drug Offenses
Race and Police Use of Force
A Continuing Concern
Evidence on Race and Police Use of Force
Chapter 6. Race, Prosecution, and Punishment
Race and Prosecution
Race and Conviction
Jury Verdicts
Race and Sentencing
Skin Tone and Afrocentric Facial Features
Race and Parole
Race and Cumulative Disadvantage in Criminal Justice
Special Topics: The War on Drugs, Capital Punishment, and Juvenile Justice
The War on Drugs
Capital Punishment
Juvenile Justice
A Final Word on Race and Differential Involvement in Criminal Justice
Chapter 7. Epilogue: Where Do We Go From Here? The Future of Race, Crime, and Justice in the United States
What Have You Learned from This Book?
What the Nation Can Do
Addressing the Causes of Crime
Reforming Criminal Justice
What You Can Do