The Criminal Justice System and Social Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
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2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (13) ◽  
pp. 1767-1797
Author(s):  
Martin Bouchard ◽  
Carlo Morselli ◽  
Mitch Macdonald ◽  
Owen Gallupe ◽  
Sheldon Zhang ◽  
...  

The size of criminal populations is unknown, and policy decisions are typically based only on the number of offenses and offenders that come to the attention of the criminal justice system. However, the size of criminal populations may follow different trends than what is observed in official data. We use a regression-adjusted capture–recapture model to estimate the number of people at risk of arrest for offenses involving amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) from arrests and rearrests occurring in Quebec, Canada, controlling for year of first arrest, age, and gender. The 4,989 individuals arrested were the visible part of an estimated 42,541 [36,936, 48,145] individuals otherwise at risk of arrest (12%). Additional results show that trends in criminal populations and risks of arrest vary across offense type and drug classifications.


2019 ◽  
pp. 174889581986309
Author(s):  
Sarah-Jane Lilley Walker ◽  
Marianne Hester ◽  
Duncan McPhee ◽  
Demi Patsios ◽  
Anneleise Williams ◽  
...  

This article draws upon quantitative and content analysis of 585 reports of rape recorded within two police force areas in England in 2010 and in 2014 tracking individual incidents to eventual outcome to examine the impact, if any, of intersecting inequalities on trajectories of rape cases reported to police. The data were collected as part of the wider Economic and Social Research Council funded Justice, Inequality and Gender-Based Violence research project which examined victim-survivor experiences and perspectives on justice. Building on existing distinctions between types of rape case based on the relationship between victim-survivor and accused, the results suggest age and gender are significant factors in how sexual violence, and the criminal justice system, is experienced. While younger women and girls were disproportionately affected by certain types of sexual violence case and more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system compared to men and older women, they were not necessarily more likely to achieve a conviction. The findings also confirm that some of the most vulnerable victims-survivors of sexual violence, especially those with poor mental health, are still not achieving criminal justice. Victims-survivors from Black and minority ethnic group or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer groups are underrepresented within the criminal justice system, implying these groups are not seeking a criminal justice response in the same way as ‘white’ heterosexual victims-survivors.


Sexual Abuse ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Fix ◽  
Melissa A. Cyperski ◽  
Barry R. Burkhart

The overrepresentation of racial/ethnic minorities within the criminal justice system relative to their population percentage, a phenomenon termed disproportionate minority contact, has been examined within general adult and adolescent offender populations; yet few studies have tested whether this phenomenon extends to juvenile sexual offenders (JSOs). In addition, few studies have examined whether offender race/ethnicity influences registration and notification requirements, which JSOs are subject to in some U.S. states. The present study assessed for disproportionate minority contact among general delinquent offenders and JSOs, meaning it aimed to test whether the criminal justice system treats those accused of sexual and non-sexual offenses differently by racial/ethnic group. Furthermore, racial/ethnic group differences in risk, legal classification, and sexual offending were examined for JSOs. Results indicated disproportionate minority contact was present among juveniles with non-sexual offenses and JSOs in Alabama. In addition, offense category and risk scores differed between African American and European American JSOs. Finally, registration classifications were predicted by offending characteristics, but not race/ethnicity. Implications and future directions regarding disproportionate minority contact among JSOs and social and legal policy affecting JSOs are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Di Molfetta ◽  
Jelmer Brouwer

This article explores the challenges that (cr)immigration practices pose to draw the boundaries of punishment by examining foreign national prisoners’ penal subjectivities. More exclusionary and draconian migration policies have blurred the boundaries between border control and crime control, creating hybrid forms of punishment that, even if officially claimed as measures outside the criminal justice realm, inflict pain and communicate censure. Drawing on 37 in-depth interviews with foreign national prisoners facing expulsion in the Dutch penitentiary facility of Ter Apel, we detail how hybrid (cr)immigration practices are capable of imposing and delivering meanings that go well behind rooted significances and aims of administrative measures. Traditionally designed with preventive purposes, administrative measures have now become part of a project of social exclusion and reaffirmation of the worth of citizenship. This circumstance raises problematic questions for the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in dealing with non-citizens.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
Camilla Magalhães Gomes

The purpose of this article is to investigate how decolonial studies can contribute to an agenda of southern criminology and in particular, but not exclusively, to our research on gender and gender violence. To do so, the path chosen was to first present the common lines between these ways of theorising. Then, the entanglements of race and capitalism and of race and gender in the decolonial perspective are presented. With this done, it is possible to think about how decoloniality and punishment are related and to, from then on, think of a decolonial agenda for criminology that involves taking the colonial hypothesis seriously and always thinking and seeking to listen, read and research the ways of resistance from those dehumanised by the criminal justice system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-249
Author(s):  
Nick Petersen

To understand how racial/ethnic disparities are formed and sustained within death penalty institutions, this study tracks homicide cases through multiple stages of Los Angeles County’s criminal justice system. Drawing upon cumulative disadvantage research, this study focuses on the accumulation of racial/ethnic biases across multiple decision-making points. Logistic regressions seek to answer the following questions: (1) does victim/defendant race/ethnicity influence prosecutorial decision-making? and (2) if so, do these racial/ethnic disparities accumulate across multiple stages of the criminal justice system? Results indicate that cases with minority victims are less likely to involve a death-eligible charge or death notice. Moreover, these racial/ethnic disparities increase as cases advance through the courts, producing a Whiter pool of victims at later stages in the process. Defendant race/ethnicity is not predictive of death penalty charging decisions but does moderate the influence of victim race/ethnicity such that cases with minority defendants and White victims are treated more punitively.


Author(s):  
Erika Rackley ◽  
Clare McGlynn ◽  
Kelly Johnson ◽  
Nicola Henry ◽  
Nicola Gavey ◽  
...  

AbstractDespite apparent political concern and action—often fuelled by high-profile cases and campaigns—legislative and institutional responses to image-based sexual abuse in the UK have been ad hoc, piecemeal and inconsistent. In practice, victim-survivors are being consistently failed: by the law, by the police and criminal justice system, by traditional and social media, website operators, and by their employers, universities and schools. Drawing on data from the first multi-jurisdictional study of the nature and harms of, and legal/policy responses to, image-based sexual abuse, this article argues for a new joined-up approach that supports victim-survivors of image-based sexual abuse to ‘reclaim control’. It argues for a comprehensive, multi-layered, multi-institutional and multi-agency response, led by a government- and industry-funded online or e-safety organisation, which not only recognises the diversity of victim-survivor experiences and the intersection of image-based sexual abuse with other forms of sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination, but which also enables victim-survivors to reclaim control within and beyond the criminal justice system.


Author(s):  
Jordan Blair Woods

This chapter reviews a limited but emerging body of research on biases that arise and affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) jurors as well as juror decision-making when LGBTQ individuals are involved in criminal cases. The chapter also discusses recent research and legal developments surrounding jury selection and LGBTQ identity and describes debates over best practices to identify and combat anti-LGBTQ juror biases. Finally, the chapter reviews gay and trans “panic” defenses in cases involving the murders of LGBTQ individuals and examines other challenges that LGBTQ defendants and victims face in different criminal contexts. Although there is a need for future studies, the available research illustrates how challenges linked to sexuality and gender identity in the criminal jury system can compromise legitimacy and fairness in the criminal justice system more broadly.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Schwartz ◽  
Jennifer Bahrman

This chapter takes the theoretical perspective of the psychology of men to describe how the criminal justice system operates in ways that perpetuate men’s dominance and reproduce gender bias. Prostitution and human trafficking are used as examples to discuss men’s role in the judicial management of these key social issues. The concepts of hegemonic masculinity, gender role socialization, and gender role strain are discussed in relation to men’s attitudes and behaviors towards women involved in prostitution. They also help to explain men’s legal invisibility and lack of legal accountability in the sex trade. This chapter examines current efforts to involve male consumers of illegal sex services in the prevention of prostitution and sex trafficking. It also argues for a preventative, male-focused approach to women’s crimes that places responsibility on men to change their beliefs about gender roles.


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