Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Racial Tracking
- 2 Policy Process Theory of Racial Tracking
- 3 A Color-Blind Problem
- 4 Opportunities for Change
- 5 Congress as Power Player
- 6 The Politics Principle and the Party Playbook
- 7 Public Origins
- 8 Streams of Thought
- Appendix Methodology for Hearings Analysis
- Notes
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Preface
- 1 Racial Tracking
- 2 Policy Process Theory of Racial Tracking
- 3 A Color-Blind Problem
- 4 Opportunities for Change
- 5 Congress as Power Player
- 6 The Politics Principle and the Party Playbook
- 7 Public Origins
- 8 Streams of Thought
- Appendix Methodology for Hearings Analysis
- Notes
- Index
Summary
In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the individuals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves; so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions or parties be gradually induced, by a like motive to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful.
James Madison Federalist No. 51The race problem in the American criminal justice system endures because the public and policymakers enable it. Racial justice advocates’ tendency to point the finger of blame chiefly at police officers, prosecutors, and criminal court judges is, therefore, misguided. The same can be said of the conventional wisdom that traces the root of the problem to racist politicians, racial conservatives, Republicans, Presidents Reagan and Bush, and the like. Regardless of whether we define the problem as having to do with unequal treatment in the process or with the gross overrepresentation of minorities in the process, the bottom line is that very few American citizens and policymakers care enough to mobilize around it. It can be argued that the disinterest is not entirely unfounded, even if its foundation is faulty. Considering the steady flow of informational cues in the public arena about blacks and crime, there is little wonder why most voters and lawmakers are convinced the current state of affairs is reasonable, even if regrettable. The story told in this book is the story of how racial concerns are consistently ignored in the national crime policy process, and why.
Seldom do we consider at length the part played by the body politic as a whole – that is, the combined influence of average citizens, courts, lawmakers, lobbyists, academics, and mass media. Instead, the black law enforcement experience is typically examined by way of a legal, sociological, or criminological lens.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Political Roots of Racial Tracking in American Criminal Justice , pp. xiii - xxivPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015