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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for ethnic disparities
9 results foundAuthor: Coke, Tanya E. Title: Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System Summary: Criminal Justice in the 21st Century: Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System is a critically important and inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America’s criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them. This conference report prepared by Consultant Tanya E. Coke is based upon a multi-day, open and frank discussion among a distinguished group of criminal justice experts – prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, scholars, community leaders, and formerly incarcerated advocates. This three-day convening was held October 17-19, 2012, at the New York County Lawyers’ Association’s historic Home of Law and was co-sponsored by the following organizations: the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, and the New York County Lawyers’ Association. Details: Washington, DC: National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 2013. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2013 at: http://www.nacdl.org/reports/eliminatedisparity/ Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nacdl.org/reports/eliminatedisparity/ Shelf Number: 129440 Keywords: Ethnic DisparitiesRacial Disparities |
Author: Sideman, Olivia Title: Prosecution and Racial Justice in New York County - Partnership Report Summary: The number of blacks and Latinos involved in the criminal justice system is disproportionately large compared to their numbers in the general population. This phenomenon, known as minority overrepresentation in the criminal justice system, has attracted the attention and concern of researchers, policymakers, and advocates nationwide. Yet attempts to understand the factors contributing to this disproportion historically have been limited by some inherent aspects of the justice system structure. Specifically, the system grants prosecutors broad, largely unchecked, and virtually unreviewable discretion in filing, changing, or reducing charges, plea bargaining, and making sentencing recommendations. Despite the vast influence of prosecutors in the criminal justice system, there is little existing research that adequately examines the extent to which prosecutors may contribute to unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities. Researchers rarely get access to the data necessary to investigate the relationship between race or ethnicity and prosecutorial outcomes; indeed, most jurisdictions do not systematically capture this information. When researchers are able to use available data, they typically examine the data in isolation from prosecutorial practices. The results are of relatively little use to prosecutors concerned with developing a more deliberate approach to the exercise of discretion within their offices and with ensuring the equitable treatment of defendants. With an interest in addressing this gap in the research and providing practical findings and evidence-based technical assistance, the Prosecution and Racial Justice Program (PRJ) of the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) has partnered with a number of district attorneys' (DAs') offices around the country, using a unique researcher-practitioner model. This report describes Vera's most recent partnership, with the New York County District Attorney's Office (DANY), which was funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The partnership allowed Vera to place two-to-three researchers, depending on the phase of the project, at DANY for 20 months to work closely with DANY staff and analyze felony and misdemeanor cases disposed in 2010 and 2011. The study began in January 2012. It aimed to explore the influence of defendants' race and ethnicity on case acceptance for prosecution; detention status; plea offers to a lesser charge and custodial punishment offers; case dismissals; sentencing; and charge dynamics while considering a host of other factors influencing prosecutorial decision making (e.g., prior record or charge seriousness). The project involved: (1) evaluating and analyzing existing administrative data; (2) conducting prosecutorial semi-structured interviews to better understand case processing and data limitations; (3) collecting additional data from a sample of 2,409 case files; (4) hosting meetings to discuss research findings and their policy implications; and (5) disseminating findings through reports, peer-reviewed publications, and conference presentations. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2014. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 28, 2014 at: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/race-and-prosecution-manhattan-partnership.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/race-and-prosecution-manhattan-partnership.pdf Shelf Number: 133152 Keywords: Case ProcessingEthnic DisparitiesProsecution (New York)Prosecutorial Decision-MakingProsecutorial DiscretionProsecutorsRacial 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 AmericansDisadvantaged YouthEthnic DisparitiesMass IncarcerationRacial 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 AmericansEthnic DisparitiesJustice ReinvestmentPrisoner ReentryRacial Disparities |
Author: Nellis, Ashley Title: The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons Summary: Growing awareness of America's failed experiment with mass incarceration has prompted changes at the state and federal level that aim to reduce the scale of imprisonment. Lawmakers and practitioners are proposing "smart on crime" approaches to public safety that favor alternatives to incarceration and reduce odds of recidivism. As a result of strategic reforms across the criminal justice spectrum, combined with steadily declining crime rates since the mid-1990s, prison populations have begun to stabilize and even decline slightly after decades of unprecedented growth. In states such as New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and California, prison depopulation has been substantial, declining by 20-30%. Still, America maintains its distinction as the world leader in its use of incarceration, including more than 1.3 million people held in state prisons around the country. At the same time of productive bipartisan discussions about improving criminal justice policies and reducing prison populations, the U.S. continues to grapple with troubling racial tensions. The focus of most recent concern lies in regular reports of police brutality against people of color, some of which have resulted in deaths of black men by law enforcement officers after little or no apparent provocation. Truly meaningful reforms to the criminal justice system cannot be accomplished without acknowledgement of racial and ethnic disparities in the prison system, and focused attention on reduction of disparities. Since the majority of people in prison are sentenced at the state level rather than the federal level, it is critical to understand the variation in racial and ethnic composition across states, and the policies and the day-to-day practices that contribute to this variance. Incarceration creates a host of collateral consequences that include restricted employment prospects, housing instability, family disruption, stigma, and disenfranchisement. These consequences set individuals back by imposing new punishments after prison. Collateral consequences are felt disproportionately by people of color, and because of concentrations of poverty and imprisonment in certain jurisdictions, it is now the case that entire communities experience these negative effects. Evidence suggests that some individuals are incarcerated not solely because of their crime, but because of racially disparate policies, beliefs, and practices, rendering these collateral consequences all the more troubling. An unwarranted level of incarceration that worsens racial disparities is problematic not only for the impacted group, but for society as whole, weakening the justice system's potential and undermining perceptions of justice. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2016. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2016 at: http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-Color-of-Justice-Racial-and-Ethnic-Disparity-in-State-Prisons.pdf Shelf Number: 146680 Keywords: Ethnic DisparitiesPrison PopulationPrisonersRacial Disparities |
Author: Henricks, Kasey Title: A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago Report Summary: Despite some progress, significant racial inequities have stagnated, and in some cases grown worse, in Chicago since the civil rights movement, according to a new report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers. Racial and ethnic inequality in Chicago is "so pervasive, persistent, and consequential" that the investigators describe life for white, black and Latino residents in Chicago today as a "tale of three cities." The report, "A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago," is produced by UIC's Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. It details the divergent conditions for blacks, Latinos and whites in the intersecting domains of housing, economics, education, justice and health. Present-day challenges facing the city and its residents are partly due to a "failure to address the long-term consequences of decades of formal and widespread private and public discrimination along with continuing forms of entrenched but subtle institutional and interpersonal forms of discrimination," the report states. Among the findings: Housing -High black-white segregation levels persist even among the city's most affluent households. Black households earning over $100,000 annually are almost as likely as those earning less than $25,000 to be segregated from whites. -Even when they possess equivalent measures of credit-worthiness compared to whites, black and Latino households are more likely to secure mortgages that have high interest rates, ballooning payment schedules, and numerous extra fees. -Black and Latino neighborhoods were especially hard-hit in the foreclosure crises, and large portions of some minority neighborhoods continue to experience long-term vacancies with as much as 10 percent to 25 percent of housing stock abandoned in places like Englewood and Riverdale. -The aftermath of the Great Recession has left more black and Latino homeowners and renters cost-burdened, spending 30 percent or more of their income on monthly housing or rental costs. Economics -Over 30 percent of black families, around 25 percent of Latino families, and less than 10 percent of white families live below the poverty line. -In 1960, the typical white family earned 1.6 and 1.4 times more than the typical black and Latino family. Today, the typical white family earns 2.2 and 1.7 times more than typical black and Latino families. -At nearly 20 percent today, the black unemployment rate is over four times the city's white unemployment rate. The rate for Latinos is about 10 percent. -Higher levels of education do not eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in income or joblessness. Education -About 91 percent of black students and 89 percent of Latino students attend schools where 75 percent or more of the student population is eligible for free or reduced lunch. Meanwhile, white students comprise a quarter of all students at selective enrollment high schools and are over-represented in the district's advanced courses and gifted programs. -White students represent anywhere from 32 percent to 40 percent of the student body at the district's top five nationally-ranked high schools even though they comprise less than 10 percent of the Chicago Public Schools student body. -Compared to surrounding school districts in Cook County and elsewhere in the state, Chicago Public Schools has fewer high school teachers with advanced degrees, larger class sizes, and less state investment per pupil. -Black students are suspended, both in-school and out-of-school, at double the district rate, and they are expelled at four times the rate of Latinos and 23 times the rate of whites. Justice -While both violent and property crimes are down in Chicago and nationally, incarceration rates have skyrocketed due to policy shifts, aggressive policing strategies, and mandatory minimum sentencing. Illinois prisons are operating at 150 percent of maximum capacity, and the state has one of the most overcrowded prison systems in the nation. -Chicagoans of color are subject to more police surveillance, suspicion and intervention than whites. Although blacks and Latinos have their vehicle searched at four times the rate of their white counterparts, they are half as likely to be in possession of illegal contraband or a controlled substance. -The geographical distribution of state prisons, clustered in downstate Illinois, impacts political districting and results in inflated voting for some predominantly white districts that house high numbers of prison cells because prisoners are counted as residents of the county where they are incarcerated. Health -Health outcomes are improving across Chicago, but inequalities between blacks and whites are either stagnant or widening on major indicators like heart disease, stroke, and mortality in general. -While Latino Chicagoans fare better than both whites and blacks on measures like mortality rates and incidence of certain cancers, they are uninsured at twice the rate of their black and white counterparts and may be underreported in some areas. -Racial and ethnic disparities persist in infant mortality and low birthweight - outcomes often associated with socioeconomic status and access to prenatal care. 'Many residents on the south and west sides live in healthcare provider and pharmacy "deserts," with no access to either within a half-mile to mile radius. "Advantages or disadvantages people have in one area often translate into parallel advantages or disadvantages in another," the researchers wrote. "Chicagoans of all racial and ethnic groups want to live in safe and healthy communities where they don't just subsist or survive but also thrive, but not all have equal access." "While the data we collected will not be a surprise to many, we hope that this effort to collect it all in one place will help us all to understand the challenges we face and how they are interconnected," said co-author Amanda Lewis, director of the institute and professor of African American studies and sociology. The report also highlights gaps in the available data and the challenges posed by the use of standard measures to assess racial dynamics, in particular for Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Arab Americans. Short commentaries by scholars capture some of the key challenges facing these communities today. Details: Chicago: Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2017. 178p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2017 at: http://stateofracialjusticechicago.com/ Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://stateofracialjusticechicago.com/ Shelf Number: 145554 Keywords: Ethnic DisparitiesInequalitiesMinoritiesRacial DisciminationRacial Disparities |
Author: Delay, Dennis Title: Disproportionate Minority Contact in New Hampshire: Juvenile Justice DMC Assessment Summary: National data suggests that minorities are overrepresented in juvenile justice systems across the country, and that DMC increases as youth move through the system. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division recently completed an investigation into the operations of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, and found extensive racial disparities in the treatment of African American children: African American youth are twice as likely as white youth to be recommended for transfer to adult court. Our analysis indicates that DMC does exist in the New Hampshire juvenile justice system. However, there are significant hurdles, both in terms of data reliability and statistical precision, in calculating trustworthy DMC measurements in New Hampshire, particularly outside of the state's larger municipalities. The Division for Juvenile Justice Services (DJJS) currently calculates DMC measurements along the nine points of contact for the cities of Manchester, Nashua and Rochester annually. We recommend that DJJS extend the detailed DMC calculation to the municipalities of Concord and Salem, and that consideration be given to establishing regional DMC committees in those municipalities. We also recommend that DMC data collection be improved in New Hampshire. Some of these efforts to gather better DMC data are already underway, including improvements in the design of the juvenile petition. The importance of more reliable DMC data cannot be overstressed, as identifying the reasons for DMC are critical as New Hampshire moves from identification of DMC, to assessment and finally to methods and approaches for reducing DMC in New Hampshire. Details: Concord, NH: New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, 2013. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 18, 2017 at: http://www.nhpolicy.org/UploadedFiles/Reports/DMCAssessment2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nhpolicy.org/UploadedFiles/Reports/DMCAssessment2013.pdf Shelf Number: 148223 Keywords: Disproportionate Minority ContactEthnic DisparitiesJuvenile Justice systemsJuvenile OffendersRacial BiasRacial Disparities |
Author: Delay, Dennis Title: Juvenile Justice in New Hampshire; Disproportionate Minority Contact Identification 2013 Summary: National data suggests that minorities are overrepresented in juvenile justice systems across the country, and that DMC increases as youth move through the system. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division recently completed an investigation into the operations of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, and found extensive racial disparities in the treatment of African American children: African American youth are twice as likely as white youth to be recommended for transfer to adult court. Our analysis indicates that DMC does exist in the New Hampshire juvenile justice system. However, there are significant hurdles, both in terms of data reliability and statistical precision, in calculating trustworthy DMC measurements in New Hampshire, particularly outside of the state's larger municipalities. The Division for Juvenile Justice Services (DJJS) currently calculates DMC measurements along the nine points of contact for the cities of Manchester, Nashua and Rochester annually. We recommend that DJJS extend the detailed DMC calculation to the municipalities of Concord and Salem, and that consideration be given to establishing regional DMC committees in those municipalities. We also recommend that DMC data collection be improved in New Hampshire. Some of these efforts to gather better DMC data are already underway, including improvements in the design of the juvenile petition. The importance of more reliable DMC data cannot be overstressed, as identifying the reasons for DMC are critical as New Hampshire moves from identification of DMC, to assessment and finally to methods and approaches for reducing DMC in New Hampshire. Details: Concord, NH: New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies, 2013. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 18, 2017 at: http://www.nhpolicy.org/UploadedFiles/Reports/DMCIdentification2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.nhpolicy.org/UploadedFiles/Reports/DMCIdentification2013.pdf Shelf Number: 148224 Keywords: Disproportionate Minority Contact Ethnic Disparities Juvenile Justice systems Juvenile Offenders Racial BiasRacial Disparities |
Author: Tasca, Melinda Title: Examining Race and Gender Disparities in Restrictive Housing Placements Summary: Placement into restrictive housing is a controversial practice experienced by some inmates during incarceration. Nevertheless, little is known about who is placed in restrictive housing and under what conditions. Although this correctional management tool is used to isolate inmates who pose a risk to the operation and security of an institution, assessments underlying placement decisions are often racialized and gendered. Coupled with the seclusion of prisons from public scrutiny and the wide discretion afforded to prison officials, there are ample opportunities for extralegal factors to influence treatment. In an effort to generate a broader understanding of racial and gender disparities in conditions of confinement, this study-supported through NIJ's W.E.B. DuBois Research Fellowship Program- examined restrictive housing placement decisions. Using administrative records on all inmates released from prison in one large state between 2011 and 2014 (N = 33,143), this study assessed racial and ethnic disparities in men and women's: 1) placements into any segregation; 2) placements into particular types of segregation (i.e. administrative segregation, disciplinary and mental health segregation); 3) the length of time spent there; and 4) the reasons provided for these placements. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were estimated to assess these relationships. Given that multiple housing placements were recorded for each inmate (N = 124,942), multilevel modeling procedures were used (i.e. hierarchical logistic regression, hierarchical negative binomial regression). Overall, results indicated significant racial and ethnic disparities in restrictive housing placements among men and women, net of legally- and administratively-relevant factors and other inmate characteristics. To be sure, Native American men were more likely than Whites to experience placements into any segregation, disciplinary segregation, and administrative segregation (ad-seg). Latinos and Black men had lower odds of placement into any segregation and also disciplinary segregation relative to Whites. At the same time, Native American men and Latinos spent more days in any segregation and ad-seg when placed there compared to Whites. Latinos in disciplinary segregation also experienced longer placements, while Blacks' disciplinary segregation placements were shorter than Whites. For women, racial disparities were observed in placements into ad-seg and mental health segregation. Native American, Latina, and Black women had increased odds of placement into administrative segregation relative to their White counterparts. Latinas were less likely than Whites to experience placement into mental health segregation. Routine operations (e.g., custody reclassification, lateral transfers, inmate population adjustments) was the most commonly cited reason for restrictive housing placements across race/ethnicity and sex. This project informs research and policy alike. First, this study extends empirical knowledge on disparities in criminal justice decision-making to the correctional setting. Second, this project responded directly to calls for research regarding the use of segregation and whether it is applied fairly. Our work offers insight into the experiences of diverse and understudied groups, particularly Native Americans. And finally, this work can be useful for correctional departments when navigating and implementing decisions and practices pertaining to restrictive housing. Details: Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2018. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2018 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252062.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/252062.pdf Shelf Number: 153056 Keywords: Administrative SegregationEthnic DisparitiesInmate DisciplineIsolationRacial DisparitiesRestrictive HousingSolitary Confinement |