Vol. 11 No. 2 (February 2001) pp. 68-70.

THE SYSTEM IN BLACK AND WHITE: EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN RACE, CRIME, AND JUSTICE by Michael W. Markowitz and Delores D. Jones-Brown (Editors). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000. 294 pp. Cloth $69.50. ISBN: 0-275-95974-0.

Reviewed by Craig Hemmens, Department of Criminal Justice Administration, Boise State University

The impact of race on criminal justice decision-making has been the subject of continuing scholarly study since the 1960s, when criminal justice first began to take shape as a distinct academic discipline. Not surprisingly, most of these studies have found that race matters in the criminal justice system, as it does elsewhere in American society. What has proven more difficult to measure, however, is the significance of race on the criminal justice system. The statistics paint a bleak picture - minorities, particularly African-Americans, are disproportionately represented among correctional populations. This leads to the inevitable, but highly sensitive question -- are African-Americans disproportionately represented because they are more likely to commit crime, or because they are the subject of racial discrimination in the application of the criminal law?

THE SYSTEM IN BLACK AND WHITE is a collection of works by criminal justice scholars who seek to answer this question and to "challenge long-held assumptions and spark new debates" (p. xv) regarding the impact of race on the criminal justice system. This is a commendable goal. Sadly the volume is only partially successful. Although there are several excellent chapters, the majority of the contributions to this work fail to provide any new information. Although the editors claim that the book is "dedicated to the scientific analysis of the nexus between race and crime in America" (p. xiii), many of the chapters contain no science whatsoever, but instead they consist of incomplete literature reviews or merely rehash old ground without providing any new information. Additionally, several of the research-based pieces suffer from significant methodological problems. Where the book does succeed is in sparking debate on a variety of issues involving race and the criminal justice system. In this regard, the book succeeds admirably. There are four sections to the book, with a total of nineteen chapters. Space does not permit a review of each chapter. Instead I focus my review on some of the more intriguing chapters.

Part One examines the role that criminological theory has played in defining crime in racial terms. There are four chapters in this section. These are among the most interesting contributions to the book. The chapter by co-editor Michael Markowitz argues that criminological theory has failed to take into account the effect of race on how society responds to criminal activity. Too much attention, he asserts, has been erroneously paid to determining whether there are biological differences between whites and blacks that may account

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for the differential in crime rates. Paul Knepper discusses the problems with current official definitions of race, problems that he asserts render the official crime statistics worthless. Becky Tatum follows with a review of the literature on the effects of skin color among African- Americans. Liquan Cao and his associates conclude the section with a fascinating study of the so-called "black subculture of violence hypothesis," which states that the higher rate of violent crime among black males may be explained at least in part by the greater acceptance among urban black males of violence as a means of settling disputes. Cao et al. effectively challenge this hypothesis, and in fact they find that white males are more likely to express support for the use of violence in some situations than are black males. This chapter is one of two chapters in the book that are reprinted from previously published journal articles. This chapter in particular lives up to the editors' claim that they are going to provide science.

Part Two examines the role of race in shaping how police respond to criminal activity. The six chapters in this section review the use of police violence the current controversy over racial profiling, and perceptions of police practices. Unfortunately, with one exception, these chapters do not present new research and are merely reviews of the existing literature. Scott Johnson's discussion of racial profiling provides a good summary of the case law on profiling, and makes a strong argument that drug courier profiles are, if not unconstitutional, a clear example of poor investigative technique. This is an argument that has been made by others both more fully and more strongly, however; this adds little to the discussion. Ramona Brockett's chapter is perhaps the most provocative of the book. She argues that African Americans are subject to a constant state of punishment, or what she refers to as "conceptual incarceration." Although her thesis has merit, it is weakened by her misinterpretation of Supreme Court decisions and her tendency to make sweeping assertions unsupported by citation. The section concludes with an interesting chapter by Daniel Kolodziejski and his associates, in which they examine the different perceptions that blacks and whites have of police conduct. Consistent with anecdotal accounts, they found that race (as well as gender and age) has a significant impact on perceptions of the appropriateness of police conduct. This is area in which further research is clearly warranted.

The four chapters in Part Three examine the impact of race upon the criminal court system. Co-editor Delores Jones-Brown begins the section with a review of race and the law in the antebellum period and Reconstruction. Her review is cursory and adds nothing to the existing literature, and her discussion of the Bill of Rights reveals a misunderstanding of incorporation doctrine. James Levine follows with the second chapter that is reprinted form a journal article. His discussion of the impact of race on jury decision- making is required reading for students of jury behavior. Norma Manatu- Rupert's chapter provides a fascinating discussion of the impact of negative film stereotypes of African-American women on perceptions of African-American women as sexual assault victims.

Part Four focuses on the impact of race on punishment. Each of the five chapters in this section focuses on an interesting issue, but unfortunately all of the chapters provide little empirical research and evidence. Evelyn Gilbert argues that the

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sanction of restitution is often used to inflict additional punishment on African-American offenders, rather than as an essential component of the currently popular "balanced approach." Unfortunately, her claims are based on a small sample drawn from an Alabama county in 1981, so the applicability of her findings to current conditions is limited. Janice Joseph's chapter on race and the juvenile justice system provides only a cursory review of the literature. Annette Girondi and Michael Markowitz's chapter on the impact of race on the corrections workforce discusses an important issue, but does so without reference to the large amount of research on this topic that already exists in the criminal justice literature. Zelma Weston-Henriques and Delores Jones-Brown's argument that prisons serve as "safe havens" for African American women is intriguing, but this argument is left undeveloped by the authors in their six-page chapter.

There is no doubt that race negatively impacts the administration of justice in America. Precisely how, when, and where this impact occurs is more difficult to measure, as the contributors to this volume have revealed. Recent events, such as the New Jersey racial profiling lawsuit and the murder of Amadou Diallo by New York City police officers, make clear the fact that the criminal justice system has not risen above its racist past. In this regard the criminal justice system is no different from other segments of American society. The editors and contributors of this volume are right to seek to remedy this fault. Sadly their goal exceeds their reach.

THE SYSTEM IN BLACK AND WHITE is a flawed, but useful work. A number of the chapters add little to the literature, or are superficial treatments of the issue under study. Other chapters offer much heat, but little light, reading as polemics rather than scholarly reports of research findings. Although the later may be understood as part of the editors' desire to spark debate, the former is difficult to accept. The book as a whole suffers from numerous typographical errors, such as unindented paragraphs and the use of different citation forms in some chapters. Although these are minor errors, they add to the impression created by reading some of the selections that this book was put together hurriedly. The end result is a book with much promise, and several informative chapters, but one that ultimately fails to satisfy. Scholars interested in the intersection of race and justice are urged to take the editors up on their call for a re-examination of the issue. Ultimately, however, that re-examination will have to take place elsewhere.


Copyright 2001 by the author, Craig Hemmens