NCJ Number
185536
Date Published
January 2000
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores the multiple ways in which the defendant's
and victim's class, gender, race, and ethnicity interweave to
influence criminal court decision making, and it speculates about
what these patterns and controversies suggest for the future.
Abstract
The chapter begins with a review of the major findings from
studies with singular emphases on race, gender, or class,
outlining the key themes that have emerged in the theoretical and
empirical literature. Next, research that explicitly considers
the interaction of two or more of these dimensions is addressed,
again focusing on both substantive and methodological concerns.
Having laid this groundwork, the author uses the prosecution of
crack mothers and the murder trial of O.J. Simpson to exemplify
the crucial importance of simultaneously considering the race,
ethnicity, gender, and class status of both the offender and the
victim. Continuing this theme, the chapter examines three
contemporary crime control policies -- the war on drugs, the war
on gangs, and the automatic transfer of youths to adult court --
to illustrate how policies and the court decisions based on them
may be racialized, gendered, and classed. The second part of the
chapter turns toward the future, as it explores some central
controversies and questions facing criminologists as we enter the
21st century. These include a range of conceptual and
methodological issues, including the distinctions between
race/ethnicity and culture and between sex and gender; the
crucial importance of how discrimination is defined; and
measurement issues such as how best to code race, ethnicity, and
class. The ramifications of crime control policies and criminal
justice decisions for poor communities of color are also
emphasized. The chapter concludes with recommendations for
policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. 173 references
Date Published: January 1, 2000