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Pages 1-14

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From page 1...
... 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.
From page 2...
... 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.
From page 3...
... KEY TRENDS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE INEQUALITIES Large racial and ethnic disparities exist across the several stages of criminal legal processing, including in arrests, in pretrial detention, and in sentencing and incarceration, with Black Americans and Native Americans typically experiencing the greatest criminal justice involvement. Despite this pattern, racial disparity in incarceration and the absolute size of the total correctional population (including prison, jail, probation, and parole)
From page 4...
... 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.
From page 5...
... 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.
From page 6...
... , 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.
From page 7...
... Racial inequality that is produced in a cumulative way in the social context of structural disadvantage may be unyielding to narrow policy interventions that target specific points of discretion identified in discrimination studies. Research on arrest, sentencing, incarceration, and community supervision indicates that disparity can result from a range of factors, including biased decision-making by line officials, social structural inequalities, and inequalities produced through institutional design.
From page 8...
... 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.
From page 9...
... Such efforts appear promising for promoting safety, buffering communities from violence, and reducing racial inequality. Moreover, it is necessary to expand the types of evidence from which we judge the success of these programs.
From page 10...
... 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.
From page 11...
... 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.
From page 12...
... Reducing racial inequality must involve coordinated reforms across stages of the criminal justice system that will reduce the racial disadvantage that accumulates from police contact, to court processing and sentencing, to correctional supervision. Reducing Racial Inequalities in Criminal Justice Outcomes Although some jurisdictions have significantly reduced specific kinds of criminal justice contacts that have, in turn, reduced absolute disparities, wide racial inequality in the criminal justice system remains.
From page 13...
... A robust data infrastructure to monitor, track, and assess progress toward reducing racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.
From page 14...
... Furthermore, reversing structural racism and severing the close connections among racial inequality, criminal harms such as violence, and criminal justice involvement will involve fostering local innovation and evaluation, and coordinating and consolidating local initiatives with state and federal leadership. The report synthesizes the evidence on community-based solutions, non-­criminal p ­ olicy interventions, and criminal justice reforms, charting a path toward the reduction of racial inequalities by minimizing harm in ways that also improve community safety.


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