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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue

Time: 12:34 am

Results for african americans

33 results found

Author: Gorvin, Ian

Title: Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States

Summary: Using 2003 data from 34 states on those newly entering prison because of drug offense convictions, this report documents state by state the dramatically higher proportion and rate at which blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses, compared to whites.

Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2008. 64p.

Source:

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 117802

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Abuse and Crime
Drug Control
Drug Offenders
Imprisonment

Author: Levine, Harry G.

Title: Targeting Blacks for Marijuana: Possession Arrests of African Americans in California, 2004-08

Summary: This report found that across the 25 largest counties in California the pot-holding arrest rate for blacks was often at least double that of whites despite evidence that indicates African-Americans use cannabis at a lower rate.

Details: New York: Drug Policy Alliance, 2010. 12p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2010 at: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Targeting_Blacks_for_Marijuana_06_29_10.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Targeting_Blacks_for_Marijuana_06_29_10.pdf

Shelf Number: 119657

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Arrests (California)
Drug Offenders
Marijuana
Racial Profiling

Author: Johnson, Byron R.

Title: The Role of African-African Churches in Reducing Crime Among Black Youth

Summary: This paper examines the hypothesis that the religious involvement of African-American youth significantly shields them from the deleterious effects of neighborhood disorder and decay on youth crime. This hypothesis is tested by examining the fifth wave of data from the National Youth Survey (nys), focusing on black respondents given the historical as well as contemporary significance of the African-American church for black Americans. Results from a series of multivariate analyses indicate that: (1) the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime among black youth are partly mediated by an individual’s religious involvement; and (2) involvement of African- American youth in religious institutions significantly buffers or interacts with the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime, and in particular, serious crime. Theoretical and methodological implications of the present findings are briefly discussed.

Details: Waco, TX: Baylor University, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 2008. 20p. (Originally published: 2002)

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2010 at: http://www.isreligion.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Role_African_American.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.isreligion.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR_Role_African_American.pdf

Shelf Number: 120355

Keywords:
African Americans
Delinquency Prevention
Juvenile Delinquency
Religion

Author: Fox, James Alan

Title: The Recent Surge in Homicides involving Young Black Males and Guns: Time to Reinvest in Prevention and Crime Control

Summary: While overall homicide levels in the United States have fluctuated minimally in recent years, those involving young victims and perpetrators — particularly young black males — have surged. From 2002 to 2007, the number of homicides involving black male juveniles as victims rose by 31% and as perpetrators by 43%. In terms of gun killings involving this same population subgroup, the increases were even more pronounced: 54% for young black male victims and 47% for young black male perpetrators. The increase in homicide among black youth, coupled with a smaller increase or even decrease among their white counterparts, was consistently true for every region of the country and nearly all population groupings of cities. The pattern also held individually for a majority of states and major cities. After some decline during the 1990s, the percentage of homicides that involve a gun has increased since 2000, both among young white offenders and black offenders of all age ranges. The percentage of gun homicides for young black offenders has reached nearly 85%. These trends are concomitant with various legislative initiatives at the federal level that have lessened the extent of surveillance on illegal gun markets. Time-of-day patterns of violent crime victimization for youngsters, ages 6-17, reveal clear differences between school days and out-of-school periods. On school days, the risk spikes during the after-school hours — the primetime for juvenile crime---while the late evening hours are most problematic on non-school days, particularly summertime weekends. Future demographics suggest that the concern for at-risk youth should increase over the next decade. The number of black and Hispanic children should continue to expand, contrasting with the rather limited increase expected among Caucasian children. There is a significant need for reinvestment in children and families — in essence an at-risk youth bailout during these difficult economic times. Federal support for policing and youth violence prevention has declined sharply in recent years, perhaps precipitated by complacency brought about by the significant 1990s decline in crime. The resurgence in homicide, especially among minority youth, signals the importance of restoring federal funds for crime prevention and crime control.

Details: Boston, MA: Northeastern University, 2008. 25p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 9, 2011 at: http://www.jfox.neu.edu/Documents/Fox%20Swatt%20Homicide%20Report%20Dec%2029%202008.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.jfox.neu.edu/Documents/Fox%20Swatt%20Homicide%20Report%20Dec%2029%202008.pdf

Shelf Number: 122335

Keywords:
African Americans
Gun Violence
Homicides
Illegal Guns
Violent Crime
Youth Violence

Author: Windsor, Liliane Cambraia

Title: Substance Use and Treatment in Newark: Voices from African-American Distressed Communities

Summary: Community distress and substance abuse are often conjoined social problems. An exemplar where this exists is Newark, a large city located in Essex County, New Jersey. The average annual income in Newark is $13,009; 42% of residents 24 and older do not complete high school; and 54% are African-American. Newark’s African-American residents consistently show poorer health and socio-economic outcomes when compared to the neighboring areas. Newark has the highest prevalence rates for substance use and HIV/AIDS in the State of New Jersey. Heroin represents the most significant narcotic problem in Newark and accounts for more admissions to treatment centers than all other substances combined. The Newark Eligible Metropolitan Areas HIV Planning Council in a 2005 survey of 221 substance abusers reported that as many as 44% of the sample was HIV positive. African-Americans represent 78% of persons living with HIV/AIDS in Newark. Young adults abuse heroin at a rate twice as high as the national average, and heroin accounts for 90% of substance abuse intervention admissions. Unlike New York State, syringe exchange programs are scarce, underfunded, and stigmatized in New Jersey, creating significant barriers to clean syringes without a prescription. Such barriers have significant implications for HIV and Hepatitis infection risks. In fact, HIV and Hepatitis infection rates among injection drug users (IDU) are substantially greater in Newark than in New York City. In light of the harmful and disproportionate consequences of substance abuse in Newark’s distressed neighborhoods, it is important to understand community views regarding substance use and treatment when developing policies and culturally-tailored interventions to reduce substance use and HIV risk behaviors. The current study, supported by the Center on Behavioral Health Science & Criminal Justice Research, proposed to engage individuals from low-income African-American communities in Newark (from here on “Newark” refers to Newark’s distressed neighborhoods) to develop a framework that can inform the development and/or adaptation of substance abuse treatment and HIV prevention programs in ways that are culturally relevant for low-income African-Americans. In this study distress means high poverty levels, low educational attainment, large numbers of liquor stores in the neighborhood, presence of a significant street drug market, high drug related violence, and presence of dilapidated buildings. The study aimed to: (1) examine the role of alcohol and other drug use among Newark’s distressed neighborhoods and (2) identify these communities’ needs related to alcohol and drug treatment.

Details: New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers University, 2010. 4p.

Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed October 5, 2011 at: http://cbhs.rutgers.edu/pdfs/Policy_Brief_Sept_2010.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://cbhs.rutgers.edu/pdfs/Policy_Brief_Sept_2010.pdf

Shelf Number: 122989

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Addiction and Abuse
Drug Treatment
Socio-Economic Conditions
Substance Use and Abuse (New Jersey)
Urban Neighborhoods

Author: Hartney, Christopher

Title: Created Equal: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the US Criminal Justice System

Summary: African Americans make up 13% of the general US population, yet they constitute 28% of all arrests, 40% of all inmates held in prisons and jails, and 42% of the population on death row. In contrast, Whites make up 67% of the total US population and 70% of all arrests, yet only 40% of all inmates held in state prisons or local jails and 56% of the population on death row. Hispanics and Native Americans are also alarmingly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. This overrepresentation of people of color in the nation’s criminal justice system, also referred to as disproportionate minority contact (DMC), is a serious issue in our society. DMC has been the subject of concern in the juvenile justice system since 1988, when a federal mandate required states to address the issue for system-involved youth. This mandate led to an increase in the information on racial disparities in the juvenile system and efforts to reduce these numbers. However, no such efforts have been made in the adult system. This report documents DMC in the adult criminal justice system by tabulating the most reliable data available. It does not seek to thoroughly describe the causes of DMC nor does it perform an advanced statistical analysis of how various factors impact disparity. Disproportionate representation most likely stems from a combination of many different circumstances and decisions. It is difficult to ascertain definitive causes; the nature of offenses, differential policing policies and practices, sentencing laws, or racial bias are just some of the possible contributors to disparities in the system. Some studies have begun to explore these issues and are so cited, but the purpose of this report is to describe the nature and extent of the problem. DMC is problematic not only because persons of color are incarcerated in greater numbers, but because they face harsher penalties for given crimes and that the discrepancies accumulate through the stages of the system. This report presents the data on DMC in arrests, court processing and sentencing, new admissions and ongoing populations in prison and jails, probation and parole, capital punishment, and recidivism. At each of these stages, persons of color, particularly African Americans, are more likely to receive less favorable results than their White counterparts. The data reveal that, overall, Hispanics are also overrepresented, though to a lesser extent than African Americans, and that Asian Pacific Islanders as a whole are generally underrepresented. Correcting DMC in the adult system will require improvements in state and federal data collection. In contrast to juvenile DMC data, much of which can be found from a single source and can often be compared across the stages of the juvenile system, data for the adult system are only available through several independent federal and state data collection programs. Each dataset uses different sampling methods, in effect, obscuring how DMC accumulates in the system. All data in this report reflect national figures; when possible, data by state are also presented. All data reported are categorized by race and, when possible, by ethnicity. The latest available data are usually from 2003 to 2006. Most data are reported as a Relative Rate Index, a ratio of the rates at which people of color and Whites are represented in the system relative to their representation in the general population. Failing to separate ethnicity from race hides the true disparity among races, as Hispanics — a growing proportion of the system’s population—are often combined with Whites, which has the effect of inflating White rates and deflating African American rates in comparison. Asian American system populations, while small in comparison to the other groups, also need to be disaggregated. Disaggregation of “Asian,” for instance, allows researchers to assess subgroups such as Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, etc., some of which may have disproportion even when the overall group does not. Despite the shortcomings of the data, this report shows clearly that people of color are overrepresented throughout the adult system and that the system often responds more harshly to people of color than to Whites for similar offenses.

Details: Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2009. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 5, 2011 at: http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pdf/CreatedEqualReport2009.pdf

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pdf/CreatedEqualReport2009.pdf

Shelf Number: 113857

Keywords:
African Americans
Criminal Justice Systems (U.S.)
Disproportionate Minority Contact
Minority Groups
Racial Disparities

Author: Fortner, Michael Javen

Title: The Carceral State and the Crucible of Black Politics: An Urban History of the Rockefeller Drug Laws

Summary: The expansion of the carceral state and the mass incarceration of African American males have been of great concern to academics and activists. The dominant explanations for these outcomes emphasize white supremacy and the Republican law and order rhetoric that developed during the late 1960s. This paper complicates this narrative: it examines the role that African-American activists played in the development of local and national drug policy. Tracing the discourse around crime and law enforcement within New York City’s African American community from 1950s until the 1970s, this papers finds that the “urban crisis” narrative did not develop in spite of black politics: it developed, in great measure, because of black politics. The law and order rhetoric of the post-60s GOP might have been employed at the expense of racial minorities living in urban ghettos, but black politics played a preparatory role for this new Republican discourse. This paper concludes that the carceral state and the mass incarceration of African American males is as much a result of black fears as it is a result of white racism.

Details: Unpublished paper, 2011. 67p.

Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed October 22, 2011 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1944608

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1944608

Shelf Number: 123081

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Offenders
Drug Policy
Imprisonment
Minorities
Rockefeller Drug Laws (New York State)

Author: Silverman, Carol

Title: The Consequences of Structural Racism, Concentrated Poverty and Violence on Young Men and Boys of Color

Summary: This brief examines the broader structural and institutional elements that research implicates as the root causes of violence among boys and young men of color. It includes policy solutions and emerging and promising practices that respond to the primacy of broader structural issues, including structural racism. The brief also highlights organizations seeking to change conditions in their communities.

Details: Berkeley, CA: Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley Law School, 2011. 8p.

Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief: Accessed November 29, 2011 at: http://www.boysandmenofcolor.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Youth-Violence-for-Boys-and-Men-of-Color-Research-Brief.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.boysandmenofcolor.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Youth-Violence-for-Boys-and-Men-of-Color-Research-Brief.pdf

Shelf Number: 123464

Keywords:
African Americans
Delinquency Prevention
Poverty
Racism
Restorative Justice
Socioeconomic Status
Violent Crime
Youth Violence

Author: Roettger, Michael E.

Title: Longitudinal Associations Between Dimensions of African American Residential Segregation and Arrest within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1980-2000

Summary: While much research incorporates measures of residential segregation in macro-level research, surprisingly little work has examined the relationship between dimensions of segregation to changes in arrest rates within metropolitan areas. Using data from the U.S. Census and FBI Arrest reports, this paper analyzes how Massey and Denton‟s (1988, 1994) five dimensions of residential segregation influence total, violent, and property arrest rates within a panel of metropolitan areas (MAs). Additionally, by extending this analysis to explain race-specific arrest rates over time, this study expands existing research using theories of racial threat and concentrated deprivation that link African American residential segregation and arrest rates. Results suggest that significant dimensions of segregation include evenness in distribution across census tracts, exposure to non-African Americans, and concentration within adjoining census tracts. Analysis of arrest rates also suggests that concentrated disadvantage explains arrest patterns over time within MAs.

Details: Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, The Center for Family and Demographic Research, 2009. 41p.

Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series 2009-16: Accessed January 13, 2012 at: http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file73769.pdf

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cas/file73769.pdf

Shelf Number: 123606

Keywords:
African Americans
Arrest Rates (U.S.)
Neighborhoods and Crime
Race and Crime
Race/Ethnicity
Residential Segregation

Author: Toldson, Ivory A.

Title: Breaking Barriers 2: Plotting the Path Away from Juvenile Detention and Toward Academic Success for School-age African American Males

Summary: In 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) released Breaking Barriers: Plotting the Path to Academic Success for School-age African-American Males, which is widely regarded as one of the most important scholarly contributions for promoting academic achievement among black males. Overall, we learned that education is most effective for black males when it promotes positive school-related growth experiences, with particular emphasis on teacher–student relationships, didactic learning, and emotional support. Cooperative parenting arrangements, and positive parent–child communication, including parents expressing praise and helping with homework, also promote academic success among Black male students. In addition, through civic engagement, volunteerism and sports, academic functioning and peer relations can be improved. Finally, educators must advocate for policies that reduce racial disparities in income, and increase equity and inclusion in education. Above any other lesson, we learned that our work is far from complete. Recent trends in the juvenile justice system and school disciplinary practices threaten the foundation of the school experience and are contributing to schools taking on the appearance of correctional facilities. We applaud the work of the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for alerting the nation to a systemic problem, aptly called the school-to-prison pipeline. Reports on the school-to-prison pipeline demonstrate that zero tolerance and the use of law enforcement to address minor disciplinary problems at school ultimately lead to a rise in the number of juvenile inmates, as well as racial disparities in juvenile detention and academic attainment. The next step is to research specific strategies to create an environment that is consistent with lower levels of delinquency and higher levels of academic success for black males. Breaking Barriers 2: Plotting the Path Away from Juvenile Detention and Toward Academic Success for School-age African-American Males analyzes the responses of a spectrum of black males: high achievers and low achievers; those with arrest records and those without; those who have participated in delinquent activities and those who have not; those who go to safe schools and those who do not; and those who live in safe communities and those who do not. In total, 4,470 school-age black males from across the nation have responded to the surveys analyzed in this report, giving us a complete picture of the life and circumstances of black males who choose to do the right thing, avoid criminal justice involvement, and enjoy higher levels of academic success. We hope that school administrators, teachers, families, legislators, community leaders, and policymakers will use the research findings in our second Breaking Barriers report to create an academic and social environment that is consistent with the most positive youth experiences for black males, ultimately to plot their paths away from the juvenile justice system and toward higher levels of academic success.

Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., 2011. 90p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2012 at http://cbcfinc.org/oUploadedFiles/BreakingBarriers2.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://cbcfinc.org/oUploadedFiles/BreakingBarriers2.pdf

Shelf Number: 124015

Keywords:
African Americans
Crime Surveys
Juvenile Offenders
Males
Mentoring

Author: Males, Mike

Title: San Francisco’s Arrest Rates of African Americans for Drug Felonies Worsens

Summary: The following publication details a 40+ year pattern of San Francisco’s racially discriminatory arrest practices against African Americans, which recently increased in intensity. Specifically, the publication finds: African Americans experienced felony drug arrest rates 19 times higher than other races in San Francisco, and 7.3 times higher than African Americans elsewhere in California. San Francisco’s explosion in drug felony arrests of African Americans, during the 1995-2009 period, did not occur elsewhere in the state, nor for other racial categories in the city. The city’s African American female youth account for over 40% of the felony drug arrests of African American female youths in California, and have arrest rates 50 times higher than their counterparts in other counties. More than half of all youth drug felonies involved African Americans, who constitute 9% of the city’s youth; and one-third Latino males, who comprise 11% of the city’s youth. Despite disproportionately high drug arrest rates among young African Americans in San Francisco, of the more than 2,000 residents and nonresidents in the city who have died from abuse of illicit drugs in the last decade, 6 in 10 were non-Latino Whites, and more than 7 in 10 were age 40 and older. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) respectfully recommends that the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and San Francisco Board of Supervisors investigate and respond to these racially disparate trends of policing and arrest. It is arguable that this violates the human rights of African Americans under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the anti-discriminatory clause of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), both signed and ratified by the United States. This publication concludes with three recommendations for consideration by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Board of Supervisors, to investigate and adequately address the concerns highlighted throughout this publication.

Details: San Francisco: Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2012. 28p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2012 at: http://www.cjcj.org/files/Drug_Policy_2012_in_SF.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.cjcj.org/files/Drug_Policy_2012_in_SF.pdf

Shelf Number: 125129

Keywords:
African Americans
Arrest and Apprehension
Discrimination
Drug Offenders (San Francisco)
Felony Drug Arrests
Racial Disparities
Racial Profiling, Drug Offenders

Author: Violence Policy Center

Title: Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2009 Homicide Data

Summary: America faces a continuing epidemic of homicide among young black males. The devastation homicide inflicts on black teens and adults is a national crisis, yet it is all too often ignored outside of affected communities. This study examines the problem of black homicide victimization at the state level by analyzing unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data for black homicide victimization submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The information used for this report is for the year 2009 and is the most recent data available. This is the first analysis of the 2009 data on black homicide victims to offer breakdowns of cases in the 10 states with the highest black homicide victimization rates and the first to rank the states by the rate of black homicides. It is important to note that the SHR data used in this report comes from law enforcement reporting at the local level. While there are coding guidelines followed by the law enforcement agencies, the amount of information submitted to the SHR system, and the interpretation that results in the information submitted (for example, gang involvement) will vary from agency to agency. While this study utilizes the best and most recent data available, it is limited by the quantity and degree of detail in the information submitted.

Details: Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2012. 20p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 15, 2012 at http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide12.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide12.pdf

Shelf Number: 126932

Keywords:
African Americans
Crime Statistics
Crime Trends
Homicide
Victimization

Author: Violence Policy Center

Title: Black Homicide Victimization in the United States. An Analysis of 2010 Homicide Data

Summary: America faces a continuing epidemic of homicide among young black males. The devastation homicide inflicts on black teens and adults is a national crisis, yet it is all too often ignored outside of affected communities. This study examines the problem of black homicide victimization at the state level by analyzing unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data for black homicide victimization submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The information used for this report is for the year 2010 and is the most recent data available. This is the first analysis of the 2010 data on black homicide victims to offer breakdowns of cases in the 10 states with the highest black homicide victimization rates and the first to rank the states by the rate of black homicides. It is important to note that the SHR data used in this report comes from law enforcement reporting at the local level. While there are coding guidelines followed by the law enforcement agencies, the amount of information submitted to the SHR system, and the interpretation that results in the information submitted (for example, gang involvement) will vary from agency to agency. While this study utilizes the best and most recent data available, it is limited by the quantity and degree of detail in the information submitted.

Details: Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2013. 20p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2013 at: http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide13.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.vpc.org/studies/blackhomicide13.pdf

Shelf Number: 127575

Keywords:
African Americans
Gun Violence
Homicides (U.S.)
Violence
Violent Crime

Author: Pawasarat, John

Title: Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013

Summary: Among the most critical workforce issues facing Wisconsin are governmental policies and practices leading to mass incarceration of African Americans men and suspensions of driving privileges to low-income adults. The prison population in Wisconsin has more than tripled since 1990, fueled by increased government funding for drug enforcement (rather than treatment) and prison construction, three-strike rules, mandatory minimum sentence laws, truth-in-sentencing replacing judicial discretion in setting punishments, concentrated policing in minority communities, and state incarceration for minor probation and supervision violations. Particularly impacted were African American males, with the 2010 U.S. Census showing Wisconsin having the highest black male incarceration rate in the nation. In Milwaukee County over half of African American men in their 30s have served time in state prison. This report uses two decades of state Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) files to assess employment and training barriers facing African American men with a history of DOC offenses and DOT violations. The report focuses on 26,222 African American males from Milwaukee County incarcerated in state correctional facilities from 1990 to 2012 (including a third with only non-violent crimes) and another 27,874 men with DOT violations preventing them from legally driving (many for failures to pay fines and civil forfeitures). Prison time is the most serious barrier to employment, making ex-offender populations the most difficult to place and sustain in full-time employment. When DOT driver’s licensing history is also considered, transportation barriers make successful labor force attachment even less likely. Yet, most of the recent state policy discussions about preparing the Wisconsin workforce and debates over redistribution of government job training dollars have largely ignored African American men and relegated ex-offender populations to a minor (if not invisible) place in Wisconsin’s labor force. • This paper quantifies Milwaukee County African American male populations in need of increased workforce policy attention and program support. • Proposed changes in state policies and legislation have been brought forward by religious groups, the Milwaukee County District Attorney, The Sentencing Project, and others to reduce Wisconsin’s levels of incarceration. They deserve serious consideration. • Programs to address reentry and workforce needs are currently operated by the Department of Corrections and non-profit organizations but serve only a small portion of those in need. These should be expanded and tested for their effectiveness. • Recognizing that there is no quick fix for ex-offender populations, the cost savings from reductions in the prison population should be used to fund employment and training programs for those in and out of corrections and to support programs to assist those without driver’s licenses, an essential employment credential. • The Windows to Work, a joint effort between the DOC and workforce investment boards, should be expanded. If successful, these efforts will save the state money, help ensure public safety, and reduce recidivism.

Details: Milwaukee: Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013. 33p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2013 at: http://www4.uwm.edu/eti/2013/BlackImprisonment.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www4.uwm.edu/eti/2013/BlackImprisonment.pdf

Shelf Number: 128680

Keywords:
African Americans
Ex-Offender Employment
Inmates
Prisoner Reentry
Prisoners (Wisconsin, U.S.)
Vocational Education and Training

Author: My Brother's Keeper Task Force

Title: My Brother's Keeper Task Force Report to the President

Summary: For decades, opportunity has lagged behind for boys and young men of color. But across the country, communities are adopting innovative approaches, opening doors, strengthening supports, and building ladders of opportunity for young people, including boys and young men of color, to help put them on the path to success. President Obama wants to build on that success. That's why, on February 27, 2014, the President took action, joining with philanthropy and the private sector to launch an initiative to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people who are willing to do the hard work to get ahead can reach their full potential - using proven tools and focusing on key moments in their lives where we can help make a difference. Over the last three months, we have had conversations with thousands of individuals and groups who care about this set of issues and share a common belief that, working together, we can help empower boys and young men of color and all youth with the tools they need to succeed. Today, the Task Force is providing a 90-day report on progress and an initial set of recommendations. This is a first step. In the coming months and years, the Task Force will build on the framework and initial recommendations offered here, and will work together with others to help ensure that all youth in America are on the path to success.

Details: Washington, DC: The White House, 2014. 61p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 2, 2014 at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/053014_mbk_report.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/053014_mbk_report.pdf

Shelf Number: 132595

Keywords:
African Americans
Delinquency Prevention
Disadvantaged Youth
Minority Youth

Author: Davis, Antoinette

Title: Using Bills and Budgets to Further Reduce Youth Incarceration

Summary: States across the country have seen huge reductions in the number of youth incarcerated in detention halls, camps, and state secure facilities. One major reason for the reductions is successful legislation developed by advocates and legislators on both sides of the aisle. The five most successful components of this legislation include provisions that: � Move supervision responsibilities for some youth from the states to county agencies; � Include fiscal incentives to pay for these shifts in responsibilities; � Exclude categories of crimes such as status offenses, misdemeanors, and non-violent felonies from eligibility for incarceration in state facilities; � Require use of the best practices identified by research; and � Encourage stakeholders to place youth in the least-restrictive settings by naming it as a goal in reform legislation. Despite the overall reduction of incarcerated youth, much higher percentages of youth of color remain under formal supervision and in state secure facilities. This suggests that even the most successful states need to employ new strategies. Systems need to continue to reduce out-of-home placements in order to strengthen the links between youth and their families. They also need to identify the most effective supervision strategies. Legislation helps this agenda by guaranteeing the flow of funding to fiscally sustainable, culturally relevant community-based organizations with promising research-based practices.

Details: San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2014. 13p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 2, 2014 at: http://nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/bills-and-budgets.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/bills-and-budgets.pdf

Shelf Number: 132608

Keywords:
African Americans
Juvenile Detention
Juvenile Justice Reform
Juvenile Offender Supervision
Juvenile Offenders
Minority Youth

Author: Green, Alice P.

Title: The Disproportionate Impact of the Criminal Justice System on People of Color in the Capital Region

Summary: This report, the first in a series of three by the Center for Law and Justice examining the impact of federal, state and local criminal justice system practices on minorities in the Capital Region, details the overrepresentation of minorities among Capital Region arrests, convictions, and sentences to state prison. It further chronicles the devastating impact the criminal justice system has on minority individuals and communities, and makes recommendations for change. Section I of the report presents statistical data culled from state and local criminal justice agencies and the United States Census Bureau to demonstrate the disproportionate representation of minorities among arrests, convictions, and sentences to state prison in Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties. The percentage of Capital Region arrests and convictions that are minorities is twice their representation in the general population, and the percentage of minorities among prison sentences is as high as almost four times greater than their representation in the general population. Contrary to the sometimes asserted contention that this is due to a higher rate of commission of crimes by minorities, the literature indicates that this disproportionality is more likely due to facially neutral policies that have racially disparate effects. Section II explains the concept of the "collateral consequences" of a criminal conviction: conditions that, beyond the actual incarcerative sentence, often attach automatically upon conviction. Conviction and/or incarceration can impose highly restrictive educational, employment, housing, and civic conditions on an individual, including losing the right to vote. In addition to the destructive consequences of a criminal conviction to individuals, mass incarceration of people of color wreaks havoc in the neighborhoods in which they reside, resulting in severely impoverished communities. Section III describes the historic impact of the federal "War on Drugs" and New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws on the mass incarceration of Capital Region people of color. In 2002, Albany County had one of the highest drug crime prison admission rates in the entire country, and one of the most racially disproportionate rates. More recent data from 2011 indicate that Albany County maintains its dubious distinction of having comparatively higher (and more racially disparate) prison admission rates than other jurisdictions in the state. Section IV examines the relationships between the police department and the community in the cities of Albany, Troy and Schenectady. All three departments have expressed a commitment to "community policing," and the extent to which each department has operationalized this commitment is assessed. Section V considers the Capital Region statistics in the context of "The New Jim Crow" movement, which asserts that mass incarceration serves to maintain a racial caste system that denies education, employment, housing, and voting rights to those who carry the label "felon," in much the same way that the post-Civil War Jim Crow laws denied rights to blacks. Lastly, Section VI provides recommendations for change.

Details: Albany, NY: Center for Law and Justice, 2012. 29p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 14, 2014 at: http://www.cflj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Disproportionate-Impact-of-the-Criminal-Justice-System-on-People-of-Color-in-the-Capital-Region.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.cflj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Disproportionate-Impact-of-the-Criminal-Justice-System-on-People-of-Color-in-the-Capital-Region.pdf

Shelf Number: 132670

Keywords:
African Americans
Minority Groups
Police-Community Relations
Racial Disparities
War on Drugs

Author: Males, Mike

Title: San Francisco's Disproportionate Arrest Rates of African American Women Persist

Summary: A new CJCJ fact sheet analyzing data shows the disproportionately high arrest rates of African American women in San Francisco. According to the data, black women compose less than six percent of San Francisco's female population, but constitute nearly half of all female arrests and experience arrest rates 13 times higher than women of other races. The fact sheet expounds upon a 2012 CJCJ research brief by Mike Males and William Armaline, which charts the increasing racially disparate arrest rates of African Americans in San Francisco over the past 40 years that continue today. While in 1980 African American women were 4.1 times more likely to be arrested than women of other races, as of 2013, black women in San Francisco were 13.4 times more likely to be arrested than non-black women. This despite an overall decrease in the population of African Americans in San Francisco.

Details: San Francisco: Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 2015. 6p.

Source: Internet Resource: Fact Sheet: Accessed May 1, 2015 at: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/disproportionate_arrests_in_san_francisco.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/disproportionate_arrests_in_san_francisco.pdf

Shelf Number: 135456

Keywords:
African Americans
Arrest Rates
Female Offenders (San Francisco)
Race and Crime
Racial Disparity

Author: Carceres-Monroy, Alejandro

Title: Breaking the Silence: Civil and Human Rights Violations Resulting from Medical Neglect and Abuse of Women of Color in Los Angeles County Jails

Summary: Women of color with mental health conditions in LA county jails and California prisons are exceptionally vulnerable to medical neglect and abuse that violate domestic civil rights law and regional and international human rights law. This Report by Dignity and Power Now ("DPN") documents how jail and prison officials violated the rights of seven women of color, and highlights the mental health consequences of the medical neglect and abuse these women suffered. It relies on the testimonies of these women, interviews with two former CRDF psychiatric social workers, and a growing literature on the unlawful treatment of incarcerated populations with mental health conditions across the United States of America. Although this Report's focus is the Century Regional Detention Facility ("CRDF"), an all-female facility operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department ("LASD"), it includes violations against women at the LASD's Twin Towers facility and at the California Institution for Women ("CIW"), an all-female state prison. This Report documents how LASD Deputies and other personnel-including Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health personnel working in detention facilities-systematically denied the women interviewed vital mental and physical health care services. These officials forced women suffering from mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression to suffer - sometimes for months - without access to necessary medication. These Deputies verbally abused these women and rarely permitted them to leave their cells. These officials forced these women to lie in their own filth for days, and denied them access to adequate reproductive hygiene products such as tampons or pads, leaving these women to bleed on themselves. Women interviewed for this Report recounted how Deputies shackled pregnant women, and punished women with mental health conditions by placing them in solitary confinement. The experiences of these interviewees also reveal how, by medically neglecting and abusing women of color, Deputies and other personnel increased these women's risk of suicide. These abuses are unacceptable by any measure. That they occur at the hands of public employees entrusted with the humane care of these women - some of whom are our communities' most mentally and physically vulnerable - is heinous. In addition to detailing these women's stories, this Report demonstrates that the medical neglect and abuse of incarcerated women of color by LASD and other public officials violates domestic civil rights law, regional human rights law, and international human rights law. The violations this Report documents make clear the human cost of the growing trend of incarceration of women, a trend that is by no means mitigated by so-called gender responsive incarceration. In 2007 some California legislators proposed the construction of more incarceration facilities for women, and used a need for gender responsiveness as a justification for this expansion. A report by Californians United for a Responsible Budget, also released that year, explained that so-called gender responsive incarceration proposals used "the grave needs of people in women's prisons to manipulate public sentiment in favor of rehabilitation and services to expand a failing system." Even today, building more facilities will not prevent the gross human rights violations incarcerated women endure in Los Angeles County, or anywhere else in the United States.

Details: Los Angeles, CA: Dignity and Power Now, 2015. 28p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 11, 2016 at: http://dignityandpowernow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/breaking_silence_report_2015.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://dignityandpowernow.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/breaking_silence_report_2015.pdf

Shelf Number: 137456

Keywords:
African Americans
Female Inmates
Female Offenders
Female Prisoners
Jails
Medical Care
Mental Health Services
Mentally Ill Offenders

Author: Relf, Aubrey

Title: The nature of gang spawning communities: African American gangs in Compton, CA: 1960-2013

Summary: African American gangs have existed in Compton since the late 1960s, policy makers, scholars, and residents have sought to understand why certain communities remain vulnerable to gang persistence. This study investigated factors that have possibly contributed to this persistence in Compton, CA during 1960 to 2013. The study used a qualitative research design and facilitated semi-structured interviews with twelve people, age twenty to seventy, who lived in Compton for at least 20 years. The analysis revealed that gangs persisted because several youth adopted an identity that glorified the gangster culture, the influx of drugs which: fractured family structures, enflamed gang warfare, and provided illegal means of economic growth. Moreover, as gang wars evolved from fistfights to drive-by shootings, they enhanced community exposure to violence and elicited retaliation that has contributed to gang persistence. Overall, from a community structural vantage point, marginalization, poverty, crack cocaine, and a lack of jobs facilitated a place where gangs and crime may thrive.

Details: Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 2014. 147p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 2, 2016 at: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/404817

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/404817

Shelf Number: 137734

Keywords:
African Americans
Drive-By Shootings
Gang Violence
Gang-Related Violence
Gangs
Youth Gangs

Author: Mercadal, Gertrudis

Title: Prison Privatization in the United States: A New Strategy for Racial Control

Summary: There has been a stunning build-up of prisons and a growing trend in prison privatization in the last 30 years, including the rise of maximum security units. The goal of my dissertation is to understand the ideological, historic, political, and economic processes behind the changes in the criminal justice system of the United States. I analyze this problem from multiple angles - labor and policy history, discourse and public opinion, and race in America. The aim of this analysis is to uncover the reasons why crime legislation became progressively more punitive, reaction to African Americans gains in post-Civil Rights more hostile, and the manifold ways in which these phenomena drive the expansion of the prison system and its increasing privatization. In the process of this expansion, a racial caste system which oppresses young African Americans and people of color has become recast and entrenched. Specifically, I offer the notion that in the last three decades, punitive crime legislation focused on African Americans and served to deal with labor needs and racial conflict with harsher penal legislation; in doing so, it depoliticized race, institutionalized racial practices, and served the interests of private prison businesses in new ways oppressive ways. Using interdisciplinary methods which weave together qualitative and quantitative analysis, I find that punitive crime policies in the last thirty years used the concept of crime as political currency by government officials in order to appear tough on crime, and by business representatives interested in exploiting the prison industry. The conflation of business and political interests, and the recasting of crime as a race problem, served to taint public institutions and media dissemination with racist imperatives which stereotyped poor African Americans. The end result is a constant re-positioning of young black males as fodder for economic exploitation. The dissertation also addresses the high cost of imprisonment and the multiple social problems brought from shifting inmates from wards of the State to profit-making opportunities in the hands of private entrepreneurs. The result is high numbers of recidivism, and a growing underclass of people who will always be unemployed or underemployed and return to low income communities that suffer from the endless cycle of poverty and imprisonment.

Details: Boca Raton, FL: Florida Atlantic University, 2014. 245p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 28, 2016 at: https://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A13688/datastream/OBJ/view/Prison_privatization_in_the_United_States__a_new_strategy_for_racial_control.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: https://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A13688/datastream/OBJ/view/Prison_privatization_in_the_United_States__a_new_strategy_for_racial_control.pdf

Shelf Number: 138447

Keywords:
African Americans
Prisoners
Private Prisons
Privatization
Racial Bias
Racial Disparities

Author: Ridolfi, Laura John

Title: Decriminalizing Childhood for Youth of Color

Summary: From the day children are born, we dream of their bright future and imagine that their lives are ripe with opportunities to thrive. We send them off to elementary school with aspirations of one day attending their college graduation and celebrating their journey toward self-sufficiency. We envision them growing into young adults with access to opportunities to create a good life. However, for far too many, this is a dream deferred. For youth of color, the journey along the path of opportunity toward self-sufficiency is frequently derailed by criminalization, arrest, and incarceration. One reason is that the margin of error that our society grants to youth of color is razor thin. This is true for youth of color who are simply exhibiting normal childhood behavior, as well as those who commit crime. The American justice system, reflecting societal values and norms, has a long and unconscionable tradition of using policing and incarceration as a form of social control for children of color. It is imperative that we protect their right to childhood by reforming the justice system in ways that strive for structural racial equity. The racial and ethnic disparities that exist in youth justice today are symptoms of a system that, from inception, treated children of color poorly and that continues to use misguided and ineffective approaches. There are nearly 1 million young people involved in the youth justice system today. The overwhelming majority are youth of color. On an average day in 2013, nearly 55,000 young people across the United States were incarcerated - 87 percent were for nonviolent offenses. Youth of color were significantly more likely to be incarcerated; black youth were more than six times as likely to be incarcerated as white youth. The American emphasis on incarceration as a response to misbehavior and misconduct by youth of color is punitive, deficit-based, and ultimately counterproductive. This "mass incarceration" has come under public scrutiny in the United States in recent years. Across party lines, our nation agrees, the "American experiment in mass incarceration has been a moral, legal, social, and economic disaster." But mass incarceration is more accurately described as hyper-incarceration because communities of color experience excessive incarceration disproportionately.

Details: Chicago: Urban America Forward, 2016. 4p.

Source: Internet Resource: Civil Rights Roundtable Series: Policy Brief: Accessed March 29, 2016 at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5OY2mjuvIznSDhsTkU2LVV3SkU/view?pref=2&pli=1

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5OY2mjuvIznSDhsTkU2LVV3SkU/view?pref=2&pli=1

Shelf Number: 138472

Keywords:
African Americans
Disadvantaged Youth
Ethnic Disparities
Mass Incarceration
Racial Disparities

Author: W. Haywood Burns Institute

Title: San Francisco Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Racial and Ethnic Disparities Analysis for the Re-Entry Council

Summary: In February 2011, the Reentry Council of The City and County of San Francisco (Reentry Council) submitted a letter of interest to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to participate in the local Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). In May 2011, following BJA's selection of San Francisco as a JRI site, the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) at Community Resources for Justice (CRJ) began working with and providing technical assistance to the Reentry Council. From CJI's presentations to the Reentry Council, and based on these preliminary findings, the Reentry Council identified three policy areas with potential for achieving cost savings and reinvestment opportunities: 1. Eliminate disproportionality in San Francisco's criminal justice system 2. Create a uniform early termination protocol for probation 3. Maintain and expand pretrial alternatives to detention Reducing the disproportionate representation of people of color in San Francisco's criminal justice system remains a priority in JRI activities. Learning more about these disparities was a priority for Phase II. In November 2014, CJI contracted BI to provide an analysis of whether and to what extent racial and ethnic disparities exist at the five following key decision making points: - Arrest - Bail and Pretrial Jail - Pretrial Release - Sentencing - Motion to Revoke Probation (MTR) The analysis in this report describes the nature and extent of racial and ethnic disparities in the decision making points above. The analysis does not explore the causes of disparities. BI did not perform statistical analyses to isolate the extent to which race/ethnicity - rather than a variety of other factors - predicts justice system involvement. Additionally, the analysis does not explore the extent to which individual bias impacts the disproportionate representation of people of color in the justice system.

Details: Oakland, CA: The Institute, 2015. 49p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 30, 2016 at: https://www.burnsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SF_JRI_Full_Report_FINAL_7-21.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://www.burnsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/SF_JRI_Full_Report_FINAL_7-21.pdf

Shelf Number: 138477

Keywords:
African Americans
Ethnic Disparities
Justice Reinvestment
Prisoner Reentry
Racial Disparities

Author: Carbado, Devon W.

Title: From Stopping Black People to Killing Black People: The Fourth Amendment Pathways to Police Violence

Summary: 2014 to 2016 likely will go down as a significant if not watershed moment in the history of U.S. race relations. Police killing of African Americans has engendered further conversations about race and policing. Yet, in most of the discussions about these tragic deaths, little attention has been paid to a significant dimension of the police violence problem: the legalization of racial profiling in Fourth Amendment law. This legalization of racial profiling is not a sideline or peripheral feature of Fourth Amendment law. It is embedded in the analytical structure of the doctrine in ways that enable police officers to force engagements with African Americans with little or no basis. The frequency of these engagements exposes African Americans not only to the violence of ongoing police surveillance, contact, and social control but also to the violence of serious bodily injury and death. Which is to say, Fourth Amendment law facilitates the space between stopping black people and killing black people. This Article demonstrates precisely how by employing a series of hypotheticals to reveal the ways in which the extraordinary violence police officers often use against Africans Americans can grow out of the ordinary police interactions Fourth Amendment law empowers police officers to stage.

Details: Los Angeles: UCLA School of Law, 2016. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: UCLA School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 16-41 : Accessed October 6, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2844312

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2844312

Shelf Number: 147823

Keywords:
African Americans
Deadly Force
Fourth Amendment
Police Use of Force
Racial Profiling

Author: African American Policy Forum

Title: Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women

Summary: In 2015 alone, at least six Black women have been killed by or after encounters with police. For instance, just before Freddie Gray's case grabbed national attention, police killed unarmed Mya Hall "a Black transgender woman" on the outskirts of Baltimore. Alleged to be driving a stolen car, Hall took a wrong turn onto NSA property and was shot to death by officers after the car crashed into the security gate and a police cruiser. No action has been taken to date with respect to the officers responsible for her death. In April, police fatally shot Alexia Christian while she was being handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. And in March in Ventura, California, police officers shot and killed Meagan Hockaday - a young mother of three - within 20 seconds of entering her home in response to a domestic disturbance. Say Her Name responds to increasing calls for attention to police violence against Black women by offering a resource to help ensure that Black women's stories are integrated into demands for justice, policy responses to police violence, and media representations of victims and survivors of police brutality. The brief concludes with recommendations for engaging communities in conversation and advocacy around Black women's experiences of police violence, considering race and gender in policy initiatives to combat state violence, and adopting policies to end sexual abuse and harassment by police officers.

Details: New York: African American Policy Forum, 2015. 48p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2017 at: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f20d90e4b0b80451158d8c/t/55a810d7e4b058f342f55873/1437077719984/AAPF_SMN_Brief_full_singles.compressed.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f20d90e4b0b80451158d8c/t/55a810d7e4b058f342f55873/1437077719984/AAPF_SMN_Brief_full_singles.compressed.pdf

Shelf Number: 146005

Keywords:
African Americans
Deadly Force
Minorities
Police Brutality
Police Misconduct
Police Use of Force
Violence Against Women

Author: Epstein, Rebecca

Title: Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls' Childhood

Summary: This report represents a key step in addressing the disparate treatment of Black girls in public systems. We challenge researchers to develop new studies to investigate the degree and prevalence of the adultification of Black girls - a term used in this report to refer to the perception of Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than white girls of the same age - as well as its possible causal connection with negative outcomes across a diverse range of public systems, including education, juvenile justice, and child welfare. Further, we urge legislators, advocates, and policymakers to examine the disparities that exist for Black girls in the education and juvenile justice systems and engage in necessary reform. Lastly, we recommend providing individuals who have authority over children - including teachers and law enforcement officials - with training on adultification to address and counteract this manifestation of implicit bias against Black girls. Above all, further efforts must ensure that the voices of Black girls themselves remain front and center to the work.

Details: Washington, DC: Center on Poverty and Inequality, Georgetown Law, 2017. 34p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 7, 2017 at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/poverty-inequality/upload/girlhood-interrupted.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/centers-institutes/poverty-inequality/upload/girlhood-interrupted.pdf

Shelf Number: 146771

Keywords:
African Americans
Females
Juvenile Justice Systems
Minorities

Author: Eguienta, Ophelie

Title: Twenty-First Century Police Brutality against African Americans: The Case of Ferguson, Missouri, and the "Black Lives Matter" Movement

Summary: African American history is riddled with violence, as early as Africans' very arrival on the continent as slaves. Their fight for freedom became a fight for equality after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, as the southern states passed segregation laws and racial discrimination, although not institutionalized, remained pervasive in the North. Resulted a century of social, economic, and political inequalities for black people in the entire country, punctuated by lynching, and white supremacist attacks carried in impunity. As the Civil Rights Movement rose in the 1950s, marches and demonstrations for racial equality were met by a virulent opposition, leading to the murders of many civil rights activists and the assassinations of leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act were passed and effectively made segregation and any other form of racial discrimination illegal. Since then, a variety of policies has been implemented to decrease the opportunity gap between black and white Americans, and, with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, a substantial part of the population has come to believe that racism mostly is an issue of the past, and that equality for African Americans has finally been reached. However for some scholars, this colorblindness has led to another form of blindness about racism, which only has deepened racial inequalities as policies instituted to decrease them have been reduced or abandoned. Yet as the death of an unarmed black young man by a police officer spurred massive protests in the small Missouri city of Ferguson in 2014, the debate on racism in America started again through the notion of a systemic racist police brutality. Police brutality is a societal issue that has been the subject of many studies, by academics but also former officers, who have tried to understand its origins, its extent, its perpetuation, its repercussions on society, and how society reacts to it. Research on racially biased police brutality has also been prolific, especially during the second-half of the twentieth century, as some instances sparked demonstrations and even riots. However, secondary sources are still scarce on the events that followed Michael Brown's death - and thus on the Black Lives Matter movement - since they only happened a few years ago, and at the time, nothing indicated that the protest movement would be lasting and would reach such a scale. I chose to research this issue because even though I have never considered myself to be ignorant of racism and police brutality anywhere in the world, I was deeply shocked by the events that occurred in Ferguson, Mo, in 2014. I remember reading different online newspapers regularly, Le Monde and Le Nouvel Obs for the French ones, the BBC and The Guardian for the British ones, and The New York Times and The Washington Post for the American ones. Indeed, I heard about what had happened through social media at first, and was hoping to have had a distorted version of the facts, as it often happens; and then I was anxious to get different perspectives (namely from other countries), in order not to have too biased sources and try and balance the flow of information available. I closely followed the events for months, and watched the Black Lives Matter movement rise, with astonishment, wonder and fascination. I witnessed demonstrations and protests being organized, support coming from the entire country and the entire world, but also saw the opposition to this tsunami of indignation increase, with various movements such as All Lives Matter, White Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter. Thus, in order to fully understand the importance and the scale of racist police brutality and the protests that ensued, I decided to make them my research project this year. This thesis explores the factors that led Michael Brown's death to spark a string of nation-wide protests: the context of tensions between police officers and black people, the disproportionate rate at which black people are killed by officers, and the lack of repercussions when these deaths are questionable. It also focuses on the stakes and the impact of the Ferguson protests on society, studying the Black Lives Matter movement - its origins, the novelty in its goal and actions, etc. - as well as the other movements that emerged first on social media to oppose it. This research will help analyze how divided the American population is and how such divisions can be accounted for. In order to assess the relationship between African Americans and the police, it was essential to rely on the multiplicity of secondary sources on African American history, and on police brutality in the United States; the vast number of studies available allowed for a balanced overview. However secondary sources are lacking on the events at the core of the research, namely the anti-police brutality protests that started in 2014. Indeed, because these events are recent, it is complex for scholars to analyze the scope of the BLM movement and the shift in media representation of such events, while they are still occurring. On the other hand, primary sources are abundant: every black and mainstream news outlet covered the protests at length, as did individual people via social media - sharing accounts, pictures and videos of the events as well as their reactions to them, and various organizations issued reports on the situation (and a number of organizations were even created as a result). These sources were confronted and taken with a necessary step back to determine any possible bias. Following the increased news coverage of police killings of black people, many opinion polls have been conducted, which helps establish how divided the American population is on the question of police behavior, but also on the role of the government in this matter. To conduct this research, I relied on secondary sources when establishing the historical context of today's African Americans' place in society, and a mix of primary and secondary sources when studying the racial inequalities that persist, the debate over a postracial society, and the relationship between police officers and black people - i.e. the lack of black people in the police force and its consequences, racial bias, distrust, etc. On the other hand, primary sources were almost exclusively used when dealing with what happened at Ferguson in 2014, and with the BLM movement. Indeed, news articles from various outlets and a few social networks allowed to analyze the social and political repercussions of the protests. The relation between mainstream news and the opinion of most of the population - as they influence each other - was analyzed, especially since the influence that the protests had on the news is relatively unusual. Moreover, a detailed research of the significance of social media in the BLM movement was conducted: given the importance social media have in everyday life nowadays, it seemed relevant to analyze the presence of BLM on Twitter - which is at the origin of the movement - and Facebook - the most used social medium among Americans. Some of the few available secondary sources on the topic have been of great help for this part. The research on Twitter --a social media platform that played an important role in the protests - provided significant pieces of information on this social medium which requires payment to give access to some of its user data. As there were no statistics or data available on the matter, and since Facebook's search engine did not allow for a filtered search, I created a database categorizing the thousands of Facebook groups and pages which concerned Black/All/White/Blue Lives Matter, according to a few criteria (number of people, frequency of posts, etc.). This database enabled a comparative study of these movements on Facebook, and allowed me to articulate theories about their importance. However, this research has limitations, as some more detailed indications could have helped paint a more precise picture: very little information is obtainable about closed groups and there are hidden groups only visible to members; some pieces of information are extremely difficult to retrieve (especially for a single person with a limited amount of time), such as the date of creation of the group/page, the number of active members out of the total amount, and the periods when people joined a group or liked a page. Thus, in order to address the issue of police brutality against African Americans in the twenty-first century, this work will start with a brief presentation of the place occupied by the black community in society through a selection of key events in history and their impact on today's society; the second part will be an overview of police brutality, zooming in on brutality against black people; third, the circumstances of Michael Brown' death and the aftermath will be under scrutiny, from the protests, their representation in the news, and their consequences, to the change of this representation in the media; finally, the BLM ALM WLM and BlueLM movements will be analyzed, alongside the role that social media played in these movements.

Details: Toulouse: University of Toulouse II Jean Jaures, 2017. 165p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 27, 2018 at: http://dante.univ-tlse2.fr/4122/1/Eguienta_Oph%C3%A9lieM22017.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: http://dante.univ-tlse2.fr/4122/1/Eguienta_Oph%C3%A9lieM22017.pdf

Shelf Number: 149587

Keywords:
African Americans
Black Lives Matter
Deadly Force
Police Brutality
Police Misconduct
Police Use of Force
Police-Minority Relations
Racial Discrimination
Social Media

Author: Wood, J. Luke

Title: Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools

Summary: This report is a joint publication of the Black Minds Project (an initiative of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) at San Diego State University (SDSU) and the Black Male Institute at the University of California, Los-Angeles (UCLA). In this report, we present analyses of publicly available statewide data on the suspension of Black males in California's public schools. Some of the key results highlighted in this report include the following: - The statewide suspension rate for Black males is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students. Specifi cally, while 3.6% of all students were suspended in 2016-2017, the suspension rate for Black boys and young men was 12.8%. - Since 2011-2012, the suspension rates of Black males in California has declined from 17.8% to 12.8%. - The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K through 3) where Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average. - Black male students who are classified as "foster youth" are suspended at noticeably high rates, at 27.4%. Across all analyses, Black males who were foster youth in seventh and eighth grade represented the subgroup that had the highest percentage of Black male suspensions, at 41.0%. - The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, such as Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Contra Costa County. In fact, these five counties alone account for 61% of Black male suspensions. - The highest suspension rates for Black males occur in rural counties that have smaller Black male enrollments. In 2016-2017, Glenn County led the state in Black male suspensions at 42.9%. - Other Counties with high suspension rates included Amador County, Colusa County, Del Norte County, and Tehama County. San Joaquin county has especially high suspension patterns. In the past 5 years, they have reported suspension rates at 20% or above. Four counties have reported similarly high suspension patterns across the past 4 of 5 years, they include: Modoc County, Butte County, Merced County, and Yuba County. - A number of districts have large numbers of Black boys and young men who were suspended at least once. Some of these districts included Sacramento City Unified (n = 887), Los Angeles Unified (n = 849), Elk Grove Unified (n = 745), Fresno Unified (n = 729) and Oakland Unified (n = 711). - There are 10 school districts in the state with suspension rates above 30%. Of these, the highest suspension rates are reported at Bayshore Elementary (San Mateo County, at 50%), Oroville Union High (Butte County, at 45.2%), and the California School for the Deaf-Fremont (Alameda County, at 43.8%). - There are 88 school districts in the state of California that have suspension rates for Black males that are below the state average. These schools vary in size, urbanicity, and region.

Details: San Diego, CA: Community College Equity Assessment Lab and the UCLA Black Male Institute, 2018. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2018 at: http://blackmaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GET-OUT-Black-Male-Suspensions-in-California-Public-Schools_lo.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: http://blackmaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GET-OUT-Black-Male-Suspensions-in-California-Public-Schools_lo.pdf

Shelf Number: 149695

Keywords:
African Americans
Males
Racial Disparities
School Discipline
School Suspensions

Author: Hinton, Elizabeth

Title: An Unjust Burden The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System

Summary: The evidence for racial disparities in the criminal justice system is well documented. The disproportionate racial impact of certain laws and policies, as well as biased decision making by justice system actors, leads to higher rates of arrest and incarceration in low-income communities of color. However, there is no evidence that these widely disproportionate rates of criminal justice contact and incarceration are making us safer. This brief presents an overview of the ways in which America's history of racism and oppression continues to manifest in the criminal justice system, and a summary of research demonstrating how the system perpetuates the disparate treatment of black people. The evidence presented here helps account for the hugely disproportionate impact of mass incarceration on millions of black people, their families, and their communities.

Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2018. 20p.

Source: Internet Resource: Vera Evidence Brief: Accessed May 11, 2018 at: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden/legacy_downloads/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden/legacy_downloads/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf

Shelf Number: 150157

Keywords:
African Americans
Racial Bias
Racial Disparities

Author: Equal Justice Initiative

Title: Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans

Summary: As America prepares to celebrate the valor, bravery, and courage of the men and women who have fought and risked their lives for this country, the history of racial terrorism and violence endured by thousands of African American veterans remains unacknowledged. EJI's new report, Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans, documents the culture of targeted physical violence and social humiliation that black veterans were forced to confront during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, despite their hopes of achieving racial equality through the patriotic commitment of military service. The end of the Civil War ushered in a new era of racial terror lynchings and violence directed at black people in America that was designed to sustain a system of white supremacy and hierarchy, one whose brutal repercussions have not been fully acknowledged in this country. No one was more at risk of experiencing targeted violence than black veterans who had proven their valor and courage as soldiers during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Military service sparked dreams of racial equality for generations of African Americans, but rather than welcomed home and honored for their service, many black veterans were targeted for mistreatment, violence, and murder during the lynching era due to their race and military experience. Between the end of Reconstruction and the years following World War II, the experience of military service for African Americans often inflamed an attitude of defiant resistance to the status quo that could prove deadly in a society where racial subordination was violently enforced. All throughout the American South, parts of the Midwest, and the Northeast, dozens of black veterans died at the hands of mobs and persons acting under the color of official authority; many survived near-lynchings; and thousands suffered severe assaults and social humiliation. "The disproportionate abuse and assaults against black veterans have never been fully acknowledged. This report highlights the particular challenges endured by black veterans in the hope that our nation can better confront the legacy of this violence and terror," EJI Director Bryan Stevenson said. "No community is more deserving of recognition and acknowledgment than those black men and women veterans who bravely risked their lives to defend this country's freedom, only to have their own freedom denied and threatened because of racial bigotry." Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans builds upon the comprehensive seminal report on the era of racial terror lynchings and violence that EJI published last year. Documenting over 4000 lynchings of African Americans throughout the South between 1877 and 1950, the 2015 report, Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror, explored the ways in which racial terrorism profoundly shaped the nation's demographics and reinforced a myth of racial inferiority and a legacy of racial inequality that is readily apparent in our criminal justice system today. Research on mass violence, trauma, and transitional justice underscores the urgent need to engage in public conversations about racial history that begin a process of truth and reconciliation in this country. Documenting the atrocities of lynching and targeted racial violence is vital to understanding the incongruity of our country's professed ideals of freedom and democracy while tolerating ongoing violence against people of color within our own borders

Details: Montgomery, AL: EJI, 2017. 52p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2018 at: https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-targeting-black-veterans-web.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-targeting-black-veterans-web.pdf

Shelf Number: 151243

Keywords:
African Americans
Lynching
Military Veterans
Racial Disparities

Author: Levy-Pounds, Nekima

Title: Going Up in Smoke: The Impacts of the Drug War on Young Black Men

Summary: This paper seeks to shed light on the impacts of drug war policies and marijuana suppression efforts on African American men, and to explore recent changes within the law that may affect this segment of the population. Although discourse regarding the war on drugs is becoming more prevalent, it is important for policy makers, law enforcement, and scholars to recognize the unique circumstances that African American men face in light of the historical discrimination and oppression they have experienced, and to craft narrowly tailored solutions to address the myriad issues they encounter. Unless deliberate action is taken to address these concerns, these men will continue to be systematically excluded from mainstream society, and are at grave risk of cycling in-and-out of the revolving doors of the criminal justice system.

Details: Minnesota: University of St. Thomas School of Law, 2014. 27p.

Source: Internet Resource: U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-14: Accessed November 16, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2412343

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2412343

Shelf Number: 153497

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Enforcement Policy
Drugs
Marijuana
Punishment
Racial Discrimination
War on Drugs

Author: Alabama Appleseed

Title: Alabama's War on Marijuana: Assessing the Fiscal and Human Toll of Criminalization

Summary: Kiasha Hughes dreamed of becoming a medical assistant. Now, she works an overnight shift at a chicken plant to support her children. Nick Gibson was on track to graduate from the University of Alabama. Now, he works at a fast-food restaurant. Wesley Shelton spent 15 months in jail and ended up with a felony conviction - for having $10 worth of marijuana. Like thousands of others, they're casualties of Alabama's war on marijuana - a war the state ferociously wages with draconian laws that criminalize otherwise law-abiding people for possessing a substance that's legal for recreational or medicinal use in states where more than half of all Americans live. In Alabama, a person caught with only a few grams of marijuana can face incarceration and thousands of dollars in fines and court costs. They can lose their driver's license and have difficulty finding a job or getting financial aid for college. This war on marijuana is one whose often life-altering consequences fall most heavily on black people - a population still living in the shadow of Jim Crow. Alabama's laws are not only overly harsh, they also place enormous discretion in the hands of law enforcement, creating an uneven system of justice and leaving plenty of room for abuse. This year in Etowah County, for example, law enforcement officials charged a man with drug trafficking after adding the total weight of marijuana-infused butter to the few grams of marijuana he possessed, so they could reach the 2.2-pound threshold for a trafficking charge. Marijuana prohibition also has tremendous economic and public safety costs. The state is simply shooting itself in the pocketbook, wasting valuable taxpayer dollars and adding a tremendous burden to the courts and public safety resources. This report is the first to analyze data on marijuana-related arrests in Alabama, broken down by race, age, gender and location. It includes a thorough fiscal analysis of the state's enforcement costs. It also exposes how the administrative burden of enforcing marijuana laws leaves vital state agencies without the resources necessary to quickly test evidence related to violent crimes with serious public safety implications, such as sexual assault. The study finds that in Alabama: - The overwhelming majority of people arrested for marijuana offenses from 2012 to 2016 - 89 percent - were arrested for possession. In 2016, 92 percent of all people arrested for marijuana offenses were arrested for possession. - Alabama spent an estimated $22 million enforcing the prohibition against marijuana possession in 2016 - enough to fund 191 additional preschool classrooms, 571 more K-12 teachers or 628 more Alabama Department of Corrections officers. - Black people were approximately four times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession (both misdemeanors and felonies) in 2016 - and five times as likely to be arrested for felony possession. These racial disparities exist despite robust evidence that white and black people use marijuana at roughly the same rate. - In at least seven law enforcement jurisdictions, black people were 10 or more times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession. - In 2016, police made more arrests for marijuana possession (2,351) than for robbery, for which they made 1,314 arrests - despite the fact that there were 4,557 reported robberies that year. - The enforcement of marijuana possession laws creates a crippling backlog at the state agency tasked with analyzing forensic evidence in all criminal cases, including violent crimes. As of March 31, 2018, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences had about 10,000 pending marijuana cases, creating a nine-month waiting period for analyses of drug samples. At the same time, the department had a backlog of 1,121 biology/DNA cases, including about 550 "crimes against persons" cases such as homicide, sexual assault and robbery. While Alabama continues to criminalize people who use marijuana either recreationally or medicinally, an increasing number of states have come to treat marijuana like alcohol and tobacco. Nine states and the District of Columbia now allow recreational use. The early evidence strongly suggests that this approach benefits public safety and the criminal justice system. In those states, arrests for marijuana possession have been virtually eliminated, freeing up officers to focus on crimes of violence. Drunken-driving arrests are down as well. And, there's no evidence of a spike in crime or increased marijuana use among youth. These states have also enjoyed a corresponding fiscal and economic windfall. Across the country, thousands of jobs are being created where marijuana has been legalized. Three of the states where it has been legal the longest - Colorado, Washington and Oregon - have thus far collected a total of $1.3 billion in new revenue. And, as the human toll discussed throughout this report falls disproportionately on black people, legalization offers an opportunity to begin to address the disproportionate harms that Alabama's criminal justice system causes to its African-American population. It's time for Alabama to join an increasing number of states in taking a commonsense, fiscally responsible approach to marijuana policy.

Details: Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, 2018. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 30, 2019 at: https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/2018/10/alabamas-war-on-marijuana-assessing-the-fiscal-and-human-toll-of-criminalization.html

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_decriminalization_of_marijuana_web_final.pdf

Shelf Number: 154308

Keywords:
African Americans
Drug Enforcement
Drug Legalization
Marijuana
Marijuana Prohibition
Racial Disparities
Substance Abuse
War on Drugs

Author: Capers, I. Bennett

Title: Afrofuturism, Critical Race Theory, and Policing in the Year 2044

Summary: In 2044, the United States is projected to become a "majority-minority" country, with people of color making up more than half of the population. And yet in the public imagination-from Robocop to Minority Report, from Star Trek to Star Wars, from A Clockwork Orange to 1984 to Brave New World - the future is usually envisioned as majority white. What might the future look like in year 2044, when people of color make up the majority in terms of numbers, or in the ensuing years, when they also wield the majority of political and economic power? And specifically, what might policing look like? This Article attempts to answer these questions by examining how artists, cybertheorists, and speculative scholars of color-Afrofuturists and Critical Race Theorists-have imagined the future. What can we learn from Afrofuturism, the term given to "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns [in the context of] techno culture?" And what can we learn from Critical Race Theory and its "father" Derrick Bell, who famously wrote of space explorers to examine issues of race and law? What do they imagine policing to be, and what can we imagine policing to be in a brown and black world?

Details: New York: Brooklyn Law School, 2019. 58p.

Source: Internet Resource: Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 586: Accessed April 25, 2019 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3331295

Year: 2019

Country: United States

URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3331295

Shelf Number: 155511

Keywords:
African Americans
Big Data
Critical Race Theory
Fourth Amendment
Policing
Surveillance

Rutgers - School of Law, Newark

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