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.