Ch.8 - Chriss, Social Control

1
Chapter 8

• Case Studies in Legal Control

2
Racial Profiling

• Potential dangers of police work
• Symbolic assailant those who are a threat and
  require close attention
• Blacks as symbolic assailants in urban areas
• Concentrated poverty
• Crack cocaine

3
Racial Profiling

• Grim statistics although Blacks comprise 13 of
  the population
• Blacks account for 28 of all arrests
• Lifetime chance of serving time in prison
• Whites 3.4
• Hispanics 10
• Blacks 18.6

4
Racial Profiling

1. Many argue that these disparities are due to
   racist/biased nature of the operation of the
   criminal justice system.
2. The problem of Driving While Black

5
Racial Profiling

• Types of profiling
• Criminal profiling typically legitimate
• Racial profiling
• Hard taking into account only race
• Soft using race as one among many factors
• Linguistic profiling
• Religious profiling

6
Racial Profiling

• Whren v. United States (1996)
• The pretext stop
• Police and civil liability Fourteenth
  Amendment, equal protection clause
• Religious profiling since 9/11

7
Hate Crimes

• Hate Crimes Statistics Act, signed into law by
  President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
• To gather systematic data about hate crimes
• Defn. the existence of bias or prejudice of the
  perpetrator who committed the crime against an
  individual based on the victims real or
  perceived social grouping (p. 193).
• Rates vary dramatically by state (variations in
  reporting practices).

8
Hate Crimes

• Latest data (2009)
• Rates remain low
• Most victims targeted because of race (52)
• Hate-based murders extremely rare
• Most frequent form is property crimes (35 of all
  hate crimes)
• Most frequent person crime is intimidation

9
Hate Crimes

• Penalty enhancement law
• Hate Crime Sentencing Enhancement Act (1994)
• Penalizing more severely an act motivated by hate
  or bias
• Is this a violation of
• Fourteenth Amendment?
• First Amendment?

10
Americas Imprisonment Binge

• Since 1970s American imprisonment rate grew
  dramatically.
• Even while crime rates were falling since early
  1990s
• US imprisonment rate among worlds highest
• Currently slightly under 7 million in US criminal
  justice system (prisons, probation, parole)
• Rate of growth has declined recently

11
Americas Imprisonment Binge

• Factors in the imprisonment binge
• War on drugs
• Between 1970 and 1997 drug arrests tripled
• Disproportionately affected Blacks and Hispanics
• Fuels prison overcrowding
• Rise of hybrid or problem-solving courts
• Partisan politics tough on crime talk

12
Americas Imprisonment Binge

• Factors in the imprisonment binge
• Loss of confidence in government
• Perceived ineffectiveness
• Increasing costs of criminal justice system
• Trust the government most or some of the time
• 1958 73
• 1970 53
• 1995 25
• 2001 64
• 2005 35
• 2010 22
• Crime as a wedge issue
• Grassroots populism, e.g., three strikes and
  youre out

13
Americas Imprisonment Binge

• Factors in the imprisonment binge
• Decline of rehabilitative ideal
• Determinate versus indeterminate sentencing
• Back to retribution and incapacitation
• Potential unfairness of parole
• Return of the victim
• Expressive justice
• Gonzo justice
• Therapeutic resources shift to crime victims