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1 Introduction
Pages 15-44

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From page 15...
... Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been recent increases in violence nationally across communities of various sizes and ­locations -- rural, suburban, and urban.1 The weight of the increased ­violence has fallen disproportionately on racial and ethnic minorities, though White communities have experienced increases as well. The urgent need to address this recent violence is one of many aspects of reducing racial inequality in the criminal justice system, the main focus of this report, and begs the question of how to address public safety and increase community well-being while continuing to reduce racial disparities in the system.
From page 16...
... States and localities have curtailed cash bail, ended mandatory minimum sentences, and capped periods of community supervision. At the federal level, in 2021 the administration identified racial equity and criminal justice reform as an immediate priority.2 At this writing, following the tumult of a global pandemic, a dramatic rise in homicides and gun violence, the killings by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, and subsequent protests against racial injustice, the committee takes this moment to infuse research evidence into public discourse and inform the current wave of public policy reform to address racial inequality in the criminal justice system and to advance racial equity.
From page 17...
... 2. How has the criminal justice system exacerbated racial inequality in the United States?
From page 18...
... Given the complex and deeply rooted nature of racial inequality in the United States, the committee acknowledges the need to examine policy changes within the criminal justice system and to address broader s­ocial, economic, and environmental conditions that give rise to inequalities in criminal justice. Addressing racial inequalities will require examining changes in criminal justice policy and examining changes to social and economic policy as well.
From page 19...
... The public informa­tion-gathering sessions were not intended to reflect the full range of expertise or approaches to reducing racial inequalities in the criminal justice system and were not a representative sample; rather, they were meant to augment the committee's own expertise, solicit opinions from community representatives and key stakeholders, and facilitate exchanges among parties that otherwise might not have the opportunity to disseminate information and ideas. They were open to the public and live-streamed online.
From page 20...
... The ­public sessions were one mechanism that the committee used to gather information on the per spectives and experiences of communities that are disproportionately affected by racial inequalities in the criminal justice system, though the sessions did not feature a random representative sample of community members. The statements reflected here are those of the presenters and do not represent the views of the committee or the National Academies.
From page 21...
... . People who have direct experience of racial inequality in the crimi nal justice system often have a unique understanding of the problems and avenues for solutions.
From page 22...
... It is also important to note that the existence of a disparity is simply a descriptive pattern and absent further analysis delivers no information as to the source of the disparity. Racial inequality refers to group-based differential treatment or access to valued resources rooted in law and public policy as well as in individual behavior and institutional practices.
From page 23...
... . Given the entrenched problem of racial inequality in the criminal justice system, scholars have argued persuasively that any potential benefit of adopting a biological model of race in behavioral g­ enetics research is outweighed by the harm of entrenching racial stereotypes (Rothenberg and Wang, 2006)
From page 24...
... . Neither the categories nor the mapping rules are static, so racial inequality may operate differently over time or across place.
From page 25...
... . Acknowledging and addressing racial inequality requires attention to variations within racial groups.
From page 26...
... In the next section, we focus on the various ways disparities have been defined and interpreted. That is followed by a discussion of racial inequality, which we argue is a more general framework that encompasses and expands the explanation of racial disparities in criminal justice.
From page 27...
... Racial inequality includes differences in criminal justice involvement that may be rooted in social structures of racial stratification outside the criminal justice system. Racial differences in criminal justice contact that are closely linked to the social structure of stratification may be sustained and amplified across the stages of criminal processing.
From page 28...
... Racial inequality is often the product of a number of mutually reinforcing social processes, including both historic and contemporary oppression, structural racism, and prejudice, whether or not intended. Racial inequality, in this framework, can lead to racial differences in criminal behavior, which may in turn contribute to legally justified disparities in criminal justice outcomes, such as incarceration.
From page 29...
... Large racial inequalities in housing, jobs, and quality education can persist even if racial disparities in criminal justice contact are reduced. For example, while absolute racial disparity in imprisonment is highest in southern states compared to those in the Northeast, relative disparities are sometimes lower due to harsher sentencing in the South for both Black and White people not because of less overall racial inequality in socio-economic outcomes (C.
From page 30...
... In this way, the argument that posits structural racism as a force contends that the inequalities by race occur specifically because of social and institutional factors that perpetuate racial inequality. Understanding the historical roots of structural racism is crucial to recognizing its effects today and how it has evolved over time (Glenn, 2015; Harris, 1993)
From page 31...
... These disparities, as we understand today, were the evidence and mech anism for the problem of racial inequality resulting, for Black people, in second-class citizenship and an extremely low level of democratic partici pation for much of the 20th century. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a second a­ ttempt to address the structural racism of racially neutral dis­ enfranchisement laws.
From page 32...
... Where applicable, other populations or distinct subgroups, such as Asian Americans or immigrants, are discussed in subsequent chapters. HISTORICAL ROOTS OF RACIAL INEQUALITY IN CRIME AND JUSTICE To elaborate on structural racism in the criminal justice system, the persistent racial and ethnic disparities in crime and justice that are documented in this report can be better understood when placed in historical context.
From page 33...
... . In colonial New England, settlers organized early law enforcement bodies known as Indian Constables to monitor Native Americans and ­ protect White residents from their possible retaliation.
From page 34...
... . The Civil War and Its Aftermath The mass criminalization of Black Americans profoundly shaped new developments of structural racism within the criminal justice system in the century between the end of the Civil War and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
From page 35...
... Although the Black Codes did recognize the new legal status of Black Americans under the provisions of the 13th Amendment, which extended the right to marry, enter contracts, and r­ eceive other basic legal entitlements, in most states these newly freedpeople could not vote, own arms, or testify in court without risk of racial violence. ­Local criminal systems enforced this racial hierarchy directly by criminal izing and punishing Black people and indirectly by failing to investigate or punish White civilians who committed violent crimes against Black victims (­Hadden, 2003)
From page 36...
... . This form of racial violence and terror was directed not only at Black Americans but also at people of Mexican ancestry as well as Chinese
From page 37...
... Muller's research shows that the migration of southern Black people to industrial centers in the Northeast and the Midwest was closely associated with a gradual widen­ing of the racial disparity in imprisonment through the first half of the 20th century. In 1880, census data show that native-born non-White people were about 2.5 times more likely to be imprisoned than native-born White people.
From page 38...
... At the same time, there are also important differences between the criminal justice systems of the 1960s and the criminal justice systems of today that help to explain how system responses to crimes and misdemeanors drive racial inequality in the 21st century. As is discussed in Chapter 9, federal involvement in criminal justice systems is greater today than it was 50 years ago; the federal system has grown alongside the federal government's increased investment in state and local systems; the reach of the state and local systems, where the bulk of what is described as "criminal justice" takes place, is more expansive; and even as concerns about the quality of data persist, criminal justice systems are far more integrated, collaborative, and technology-dependent than they were 50 years ago.
From page 39...
... from housing, employment, educational opportunity, and other social supports disparately impact Black men and, in turn, widen racial inequality in outcomes (Miller, 2021)
From page 40...
... Identifying the mechanisms that drive racial inequality as a form of structural racism can help ensure that the policy or practice solutions are designed at an appropriate institutional or systemic level rather than at the individual level. It is this understanding that animates the committee's interpretation of its task and informs its recommendations for reducing racial inequalities in the criminal justice system through public policy.
From page 41...
... Reinforced by social science data, this discourse cast Black people as a uniquely dangerous and law-breaking group and justified the expansion of the U.S. prison system, sustained harsh sentencing practices, informed decisions surrounding capital punishment, and sanctioned racial profiling in general.
From page 42...
... . Relatedly, reducing racial inequality in the criminal justice system also holds the promise of improving safety from the harms of interpersonal violence and from the harms of policing and incarceration, which cycle to further reinforce social drivers of crime and criminal justice inequali ties.
From page 43...
... Chapter 3 explores the social drivers of racial inequalities in the criminal justice system, and Chapter 4 discusses the drivers of inequalities at each major decision point within the criminal system. Together, these chapters d ­ escribe the n ­ ature, magnitude, and drivers of racial inequality in the criminal justice system as well as the role of historical legacies of slavery and settler colonial­ ism, social-political forces, and criminal justice policies and practices in creating and maintaining racial inequalities.
From page 44...
... 44 REDUCING RACIAL INEQUALITY IN CRIME AND JUSTICE to reduce inequalities in crime and justice. Finally, Chapter 10 describes challenges and opportunities to enhance data systems to better identify and monitor racial disparities in criminal justice system involvement.


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