Race, Gender, and Criminal Justice


Book Description

The anthology Race, Gender, and Criminal Justice: Equality & Justice for All?, examines the ways in which race, ethnicity, class, and gender impact offenders as they move through the criminal justice system, and integrate back into the community. While many books in the field address race or gender in the criminal justice system, this book offers a detailed exploration of both. The book also looks at the unintended consequences of criminal justice policies on women and minorities, and considers what, if anything, is being done to address disparities. Written in an accessible manner, the book is divided into five main sections: - Understanding Race and Gender - The Police - The Courts - Corrections - Issues of Re-entry and Disenfranchisement The individual chapters of the book cover topics that are of high interest to students in the fields of Sociology and Criminology, including the difference between race and ethnicity, racial profiling, the role of specialized courts, prosecutorial discretion, and recidivism. Issues such as the death penalty, imprisonment rates, and drug policy are examined from both domestic and international perspectives. Each chapter includes information on accessing relevant YouTube videos, websites, non-profits, government agencies, and journal articles, giving students the opportunity for additional examination. There are also critical thinking questions to encourage class discussions. Race, Gender, and Criminal Justice: Equality & Justice for All? can be used in both lower and upper-division courses in Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Sociology. It is also an excellent supplementary text for courses in the areas of Political Science, Women's Studies, and Race/Black Studies. Adopting professors will receive PowerPoint slides to assist with lectures and test questions. Danielle McDonald received her Ph.D. in Criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Currently, Dr. McDonald is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Northern Kentucky University. She teaches and conducts research in the areas of gender and crime, alternatives to incarceration, re-entry programming and service learning. Alexis Miller is an associate professor of criminal justice at Northern Kentucky University, where she teaches and conducts research in the areas of race and crime, college students and faculty perceptions of crime, and criminal justice and the media. Dr. Miller received her Ph.D. from the University of Louisville, in 1999.




Class, Race, Gender, and Crime


Book Description

A decade after its first publication, Class, Race, Gender, and Crime remains the only authored book to systematically address the impact of class, race, and gender on criminological theory and all phases of the criminal justice process. The new edition has been thoroughly revised, for easier use in courses, and updated throughout, including new examples ranging from Bernie Madoff and the recent financial crisis to the increasing impact of globalization.




Race, Gender, Class, and Criminal Justice


Book Description

In the United States, those who become involved or interact with the criminal justice system often experience the system differently based on their race, class, and/or gender. To better understand this problem, this textbook examines race, class, and gender from a historical perspective to help the reader make the connection between the terms' historical connotations and how they are used today. The remainder of the text focuses on how one's race, class, and/or gender can impact interactions with the police, courts, corrections, and reentry after prison. The second edition of this textbook embraces an intentional focus to include more diverse perspectives on the topics covered in the book. This includes the addition of a co-author as well as more references to the writings and research of those from diverse and often underrepresented backgrounds. A more in-depth examination of race and ethnicity also is included with a chapter now dedicated to each topic, their historical connotations, and how these terms are used today. A new chapter examining juveniles explores how childhood is constructed and how intersectionality impacts the experiences of youth in the juvenile justice system. Additional changes include updates to the militarization chapter which adds historical and contemporary perspectives of protest policing in light of the 2020 social unrest following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. To provide more in-depth information on issues that are relevant to the topics being discussed, each chapter includes "In Focus" text boxes as well as a "Global Spotlight" text box that discusses the topic from a global perspective. Each chapter also ends with a series of discussion questions to encourage further engagement and reflection with the topic. Teaching materials includes PowerPoint lectures, test questions, and ideas for further classroom engagement. The fifteen chapters cover the following topics: * DEFINING RACE * DEFINING ETHNICITY * DEFINING SEX AND GENDER * DEFINING SOCIOECONMOIC STATUS, THE AMERICAN DREAM, AND COLONIALISM * THE EVER-EVOLVING DEFINITION OF CRIME * POLICE & COMMUNITIES: RACIAL PROFILING AND COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING * MILITARIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT & AND PROTEST POLICING * JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, AND INDIGENT DEFENSE * JUVENILE JUSTICE: INTERSECTIONALITY AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF CHILDHOOD * THE DEATH PENALTY * OVERUSE OF INCARCERATION AND POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES * REENTRY * DOMESTIC VIOLENCE * HUMAN TRAFFICKING * WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?




Women and the Criminal Justice System


Book Description

This book presents an up-to-date analysis of women as victims of crime, as individuals under justice system supervision, and as professionals in the field. The text features an empowerment approach that is unified by underlying themes of the intersection of gender, race, and class; and evidence-based research. Personal narratives supplement research and statistics to help students connect the text material with real-life situations. This new edition is informed by consideration of major ongoing social movements such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the fight to reduce mass incarceration. The text stresses contemporary topics such as recognition of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues in juvenile and adult facilities; the introduction of trauma-informed care in detention centers and prisons; the criminalization of Black girls and women; the effects of an increasingly militarized police culture; and the contributions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other influential women. With its emphasis on critical thinking, this text is ideal for undergraduate courses concerning women in the justice system.




The Gender of Crime


Book Description

The Gender of Crime introduces readers to how gender shapes our understanding of every aspect of crime—from defining what crime is to governing how crime is punished. The second edition of this award-winning book maintains the accessible, reader-friendly narrative of the first edition with key updates and new material throughout, including increased focus on the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in crime and punishment; more attention to LGBTQ issues; additional coverage of gender and crime on college campuses; and more. This dynamic and provocative book illustrates how gender is central to the definition, prosecution, and sentencing of crimes, that it shapes how victimization is experienced and understood, and how it structures the institutions of the criminal justice system and the experiences of workers within that system. The Gender of Crime demonstrates that crime, victimization, and crime control are never generic—they are instead produced and experienced by gendered (and raced, and classed, and sexualized) actors within contexts of social inequality. This book highlights key concepts and encourages readers to think through a range of compelling real-life examples, from school violence to corporate crime. The second edition of The Gender of Crime is essential reading for students of gender and sexuality, sociology, criminology, and criminal justice.




The Handbook of Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice


Book Description

This Handbook presents current and future studies on the changing dynamics of the role of immigrants and the impact of immigration, across the United States and industrialized and developing nations. It covers the changing dynamics of race, ethnicity, and immigration, and discusses how it all contributes to variations in crime, policing, and the overall justice system. Through acknowledging that some groups, especially people of color, are disproportionately influenced more than others in the case of criminal justice reactions, the “War on Drugs”, and hate crimes; this Handbook introduces the importance of studying race and crime so as to better understand it. It does so by recommending that researchers concentrate on ethnic diversity in a national and international context in order to broaden their demographic and expand their understanding of how to attain global change. Featuring contributions from top experts in the field, The Handbook of Race and Crime is presented in five sections—An Overview of Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice; Theoretical Perspectives on Race and Crime; Race, Gender, and the Justice System; Gender and Crime; and Race, Gender and Comparative Criminology. Each section of the book addresses a key area of research, summarizes findings or shortcomings whenever possible, and provides new results relevant to race/crime and justice. Every contribution is written by a top expert in the field and based on the latest research. With a sharp focus on contemporary race, ethnicity, crime, and justice studies, The Handbook of Race and Crime is the ideal reference for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars interested in the disciplines such as Criminology, Race and Ethnicity, Race and the Justice System, and the Sociology of Race.




The Feminist War on Crime


Book Description

Many feminists grapple with the problem of hyper-incarceration in the United States, and yet commentators on gender crime continue to assert that criminal law is not tough enough. This punitive impulse, prominent legal scholar Aya Gruber argues, is dangerous and counterproductive. In their quest to secure women’s protection from domestic violence and rape, American feminists have become soldiers in the war on crime by emphasizing white female victimhood, expanding the power of police and prosecutors, touting the problem-solving power of incarceration, and diverting resources toward law enforcement and away from marginalized communities. Deploying vivid cases and unflinching analysis, The Feminist War on Crime documents the failure of the state to combat sexual and domestic violence through law and punishment. Zero-tolerance anti-violence law and policy tend to make women less safe and more fragile. Mandatory arrests, no-drop prosecutions, forced separation, and incarceration embroil poor women of color in a criminal justice system that is historically hostile to them. This carceral approach exacerbates social inequalities by diverting more power and resources toward a fundamentally flawed criminal justice system, further harming victims, perpetrators, and communities alike. In order to reverse this troubling course, Gruber contends that we must abandon the conventional feminist wisdom, fight violence against women without reinforcing the American prison state, and use criminalization as a technique of last—not first—resort.




Crime as Structured Action


Book Description

James W. Messerschmidt’s groundbreaking book Crime as Structured Action demonstrates that to understand crime, we must understand how crime operates through a complex series of gender, race, sexual, and class practices. In the second edition of this powerful book, Messerschmidt updates both structured action theory as well as several of the original case studies, and he includes a new case study that further brings structured action theory to life. The book also features expanded discussions of whiteness and sexuality, and their relationships to crime.




Race and Crime


Book Description

Written by two of the most prominent criminologists in the field, Race and Crime, Fourth Edition examines how racial and ethnic groups intersect with the U.S. criminal justice system. Award winning authors Shaun L. Gabbidon and Helen Taylor Greene provide students with the latest data and research on White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian-American, and Native American intersections with the criminal justice system. Rich with several timely topics such as biosocial theory, violent victimizations, police bias, and immigration policing, the Fourth Edition continues to investigate modern-day issues relevant to understanding race/ethnicity and crime in the United States. A thought-provoking discussion of contemporary issues is uniquely balanced with an historical context to offer students a panoramic perspective on race and crime. Accessible and reader friendly, this comprehensive text shows students how race and ethnicity have mattered and continue to matter in the administration of justice.




Ethnicity and Criminal Justice in the Era of Mass Incarceration


Book Description

ETHNICITY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN THE ERA OF MASS INCARCERATION: A Critical Reader on the Latino Experience is designed as a Latino reader in criminal justice, covering a much broader spectrum of the Latino experience in criminal justice and society, while giving readers a broad overview of the Latino experience in a single book. Considering the shifting trends in demographics and the current state of the criminal justice system, along with the current political “climate,” this book is timely and of critical significance for the academic, political, and social arena. The authors report sound evidence that testifies to a historical legacy of violence, brutality, manipulation, oppression, marginalization, prejudice, discrimination, power, and control, and to white America’s continued fear about ethnic and racial minorities, a movement that continues in the twenty-first century—as we have been witnessing during the 2015-2016 presidential race, highly charged with anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican political rhetoric. A central objective of this book is to demystify and expose the ways in which ideas of ethnicity, race, gender, and class uphold the functioning and “legitimacy” of the criminal justice system. In this mission, rather than attempting to develop a single explanation for the Latino experience in policing, the courts, and the penal system, this book presents a variety of studies and perspectives that illustrate alternative ways of interpreting crime, punishment, safety, equality, and justice. The findings reveal that race, ethnicity, gender, class, and several other variables continue to play a significant role in the legal decision-making process. With the social control (from police brutality to immigration) discourse reaching unprecedented levels, the book will have broad appeal for students, police officers, advocates/activists, attorneys, the media, and the general public.