Scholars have provided ample evidence to counter the thrust of the public and lawmakers’ policy position where race, crime, and justice are concerned. There are, more precisely, compelling reasons for the public and policymakers to believe the problem of racial tracking in criminal justice is amenable to public policy reform, and not just a matter of individual choice. Decades of carefully constructed analyses by reputable academicians, working from a mix of disciplinary angles and armed with a variety of hard data and rigorous methodologies prove the significant role that macro-context factors play in generating racially uneven criminal justice outcomes. This body of research tells us, in essence, the plight of blacks within the criminal justice system does not stem from a special affinity blacks have for crime and punishment. It is not solely the making of black choices; rather, societal forces are at play.

True, there are differing perspectives on the question of which of these forces is most immediately responsible. There are the racial theorists, who argue the primacy of traditional racism; the legal-processual theorists, who emphasize the role of institutional-policy bias; structural theorists, who contend disadvantage is chiefly responsible; and cultural theorists, who tell us the problem is directly tied to subcultures of violence and that these subcultures are, in turn, a byproduct of bias and disadvantage. Despite the existence of multiple academic perspectives, they generally point toward the same basic idea. They suggest systemic factors are at the root of racial tracking – that racial disproportionalness and racial disparate treatment are not simply a matter of individual choice. Therefore, the lack of attentiveness in the political arena is not because of a lack of knowledge among experts as to whether something can be done, or what can be done, or where to begin doing something. The considerable scholarly insight brought to bear on the dynamics of racial tracking, however, is effectively lost in transmission.