Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice Science, Practice, and Policy (2023) / Chapter Skim
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R acial inequality can drive disparities in both crime and sys tem involvement; r acial differences in criminal victimization, offending, and incarceration can further exacerbate racial inequality in socioeconomic life. In 2020, the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an expert ad hoc commit tee to review and assess the scientific evidence on how racial inequalities in criminal justice might be reduced through public policy.
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The report offers an account of the research evidence that can inform the public conversation and the policy discussion over reducing racial inequality in the criminal justice system and advancing racial equity. Given the complexity and deep historical roots of contemporary racial inequality in the United States, the committee has considered both policy reforms to the criminal justice system and policy reforms that address social, economic, and environmental conditions that give rise to inequalities in crime and justice.
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Here the committee highlights key data that informed its understanding of racial inequalities in the criminal justice system: • Homicide victimization. With the exception of homicide victimiza tion, racial disparities in victimization have narrowed considerably over the past three decades.
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Despite that drop, the racial makeup of the population under probation supervision changed little from 2007 to 2019. THE DRIVERS OF RACIAL INEQUALITY IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE Historical and Social Drivers of Racial Inequalities Current racial inequalities in community violence and lethal criminal justice contacts are tied to historical and social processes of racial exclusion.
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Singular or point-in-time policy interventions may therefore be ineffective at reducing inequalities that are entrenched in this way, and policy reforms to reduce racial inequality in crime and criminal justice involvement must tackle the contexts in which inequality emerges. Racial disparities in serious violence -- in both victimization and offending -- are also spatially patterned, with high rates of violent crime being concentrated in communities that face longstanding and ongoing patterns of segregation and concentrated poverty.
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, contribute to racial inequality by increasing the likelihood of criminal justice contact among low-income Black, Latino, and Native American populations. More over, criminal justice policies exacerbate the harm of criminal justice contact among these populations, particularly those who live in settings that have suffered the most harm from historical patterns of residential and economic exclusion based on race and ethnicity.
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To understand the impact of the criminal justice system on racial inequality, a more holistic understanding of contact across multiple points is necessary. REDUCING INEQUALITIES AND ADVANCING EQUITY Amid a changing political climate and an increase in homicide rates in U.S.
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Rather than relying on the police or other formal institutions of control, local community residents and community-based organizations can take a leading role in the definition and production of BOX S-2 Guiding Principles to Reduce Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System Informed by the committee's expertise, these principles are meant to inform decision makers as they consider strategies and policy levers for reducing racial inequalities in the criminal justice system though they are not exhaustive or meant to be narrowly prescriptive. Reckoning and Reconciliation: Criminal justice policies and reform should be informed by an understanding of the harms perpetrated by the system against specific racial and ethnic groups.
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RECOMMENDATION 6-1: Cities and localities should partner with researchers to implement an ongoing system of data collection and omnibus surveys to provide data on the views of resident safety and to develop reliable and valid measures of the full range of residents' viewpoints. Building healthy communities and reducing crime require investments in community capacity to define and advance safety and reduce harm and inequality associated with criminal justice involvement.
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In addition to addressing the underlying causes of concentrated dis advantage and segregation, this report also identifies promising sites of intervention in adjacent social policy institutions that can either perpetuate and compound or else mitigate racial inequality in and outside of the criminal justice system, such as education, child welfare, and health systems. Though that list is not exhaustive, the committee examined these systems with a life-course approach and with the understanding that the cumulative nature of racial inequality is intergenerational for families and children.
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Given the enormous social cost and racial inequality associated with gun violence, proven measures for reducing the supply of guns may contribute to reducing serious crime that is concentrated in disadvantaged communities. While this report does not make an exhaustive review, its identification of select strategies addressing longstanding inequalities and cumulative, racebased disadvantages over the life course emphasizes that reducing criminal justice inequalities also depends in part on social and economic policy.
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