What is the relationship between race and crime?

Race and Crime: A Discursive Interplay

Intro

The relationship between race and crime may be one of the most controversial issues in criminology. Much of the debate has focused on disparities in rates of law-enforcement engagement and incarceration of racialized minorities – specifically whether this results from “differential involvement” or “differential criminal justice system selection”, although there is persuasive evidence on both sides of the question, and the phenomena likely result from some combination of the two (Piquero & Brame, 2008). The intricacies of this dichotomy are extremely important and must be studied, but too great a focus on differences between people, based on relatively arbitrary categories like race, takes our attention away from the effects that these discursive labels may have on people; the causes of differential behavior and differential selection.

‘Race’ + ‘Crime’ = ?

According to Oxford University Press’s “A Dictionary of Sociology”, the term ‘race’ is sometimes now being placed in inverted commas because it is not a biologically meaningful category (Scott & Marshall, 2009). Race is a socially constructed category, which human behavior and discourses shape, and which has no basis in science (Scott & Marshall, 2009). Consistent with a labeling approach to criminology, ‘crime’ can also be seen as a largely socially constructed meaning, which is extremely subjective and relative (Scott & Marshall, 2009). The relationship between race and crime, therefore, is an exceedingly complex reciprocal action, wherein each of these discursive meanings is reproduced and reinforced (but also delimited and contradicted) by the other in an ongoing political and social evolution. Race criminalizes people and crime racializes people, but these pervasive processes also work in reverse, with people criminalizing race and racializing crime. An examination of recent criminological research will demonstrate these four sub-processes, while maintaining that the intricacies of this discursive symbiosis are far beyond the scope of this short paper.

Race Criminalizing People: ‘driving while Black’

An example that can be seen as race criminalizing people, which has been discussed widely in the media, academia and in race relations and professional police circles, is the phenomenon known as “driving while Black”, wherein racialized people are more often stopped by police, ticketed, et cetera (Kowalski & Lundman, 2007). Enough studies have documented these occurrences, using aggregate data, to imply at least some targeting of racialized minorities does occur (Warren, Tomaskovic-Devey, Smith, Zingraff, & Mason, 2006) (Tomaskovic-Devey, Mason, & Zingraff, 2004) (Schafer, Carter, Kat-z Bannister, & Wells, 2006), although the debate over differential behavior/selection enters these investigations as well, with similarly confounding questions. Other researchers have observed differentials reflecting various intersections of driver/police race/ethnicity (Gilliard-Matthews, Kowalski, & J., 2008). Much more investigation is required into the causes of this behavior, but we can clearly see that the ‘race’ of both parties in these situations affects perceived criminality.

Crime Racializing People: Ethnic and Racialized Gangs

This process also works in reverse, as we see in the example of ethnic and racialized gangs. The social constructionist approach to race fails to articulate the powerful social reality of a plurality of ethnic formations based on perceived racial differences (Scott & Marshall, "race", 2009), and these distinctions are found in the underworld as well. Some researchers have observed criminal ethnic affiliations dispersing political ideologies, or creating greater social solidarity between gang members (Coughlin & Venkatesh, 2003); others have analyzed the way ethnic and racial self-identification socializes youth for deviant behavior (Bourgois, 2003). In these and other ways, crime and criminal activity, especially with people that are from similar racialized or ethnic groups, can lead to greater levels of these forms of racial/ethnic self-identification, as well as labeling by others.

People Criminalizing Race: Media Depictions of Race and Crime

Labeling by others has long been a source of controversy with regard to media depictions of racialized people committing crimes. A number of researchers suggest that murder cases’ newsworthiness are evaluated based on how well they match up with established, discriminatory discourses about race and gender (Lundman, 2003) – if it bleeds it leads, but more so if black people make white people bleed. Many scholars have noted powerful psychological effects from this kind of media bias (Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2007), some finding “news viewers cognitively link criminality with Blackness”, so that the “presence of criminality may produce negative thoughts about Blacks” (Dixon & Azocar, 2007). As this process continues, the meanings of race and crime are conflated, overlap each other, and become very confusing indeed. In the best instances this leads to a misrepresentation of current events; in the worst-case scenario it leads to bigotry and fear.

People Racializing Crime: Mock Juror Studies

Without belaboring the point about the multifaceted nature of these processes, we can see them working in another direction in the literature on mock jurors. These studies usually involve vignettes being presented to the “jurors”, with characters having different racial and other characteristics for each of the various subject groups. Depending on what kind of crime is being depicted, the race of the perpetrator and victim, and other factors, the verdicts of these juries can vary widely (Poulson, 1990). Of course, this effect has been observed in real juries as well, with the massive overrepresentation in rates of incarceration and execution for racialized people (Mitchell, Haw, Pfeifer, & Meissner, 2005). The interesting insight that mock juror research offers to this discussion is the way it can demonstrate the specific crimes that people associate with specific races. A number of researchers have found that the strongest race-effects in these studies were observed when the defendants committed a “race-stereotypical crime (e.g. embezzlement for Whites, burglary for African Americans)”; stories wherein Native Americans were described as intoxicated were also more likely to generate guilty verdicts (Struckman-Johnson, Miller, & Struckman-Johnson, 2008). This research demonstrates that people also engage in a process of racializing crime, where particular criminal behaviors are attributed to or associated with specific racialized groups.

Conclusion

We can see from these examples that the meanings ‘race’ and ‘crime’ are constantly changing each other and that their relationship is highly complex. When seeking to understand such unique, dynamic and sophisticated processes, we must remember to ground our investigations in an understanding of the fundamental equality of all human beings. Race is a social construction, but one with very real social consequences and must be handled with care.

Having said this, I want to return to a point I made at the beginning, about the prevalence of literature related to the vast overrepresentation of racialized minorities in the criminal justice system. The discussion has been dominated by two competing explanatory frameworks: either racialized people commit more crimes or they are being discriminated against by the police and courts. However, these theses are themselves reiterations of the ongoing construction and deconstruction of the meanings of ‘race’ and ‘crime’. While these investigations are important, they may tend to further emphasize racial difference, compounding the problem. They are useful only insofar as they help us to eliminate the unequal race relations which lead to these disparities. Are racial constructions, such as those which posit hypotheses of “differential involvement” and “differential selection”, really self-fulfilling prophecies? Academic discourses such as these disperse into other discursive arenas and can generate intolerance. We must be careful to remember that we are all individuals with consciences of our own - no need for colour-coded criminal justice.

Bibliography

Bourgois, P. (2003). In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2007). The influence of stereotypes on decisions to shoot. European Journal of Social Psychology , 1102-1117.

Coughlin, B. C., & Venkatesh, S. A. (2003). The Urban Street Gang After 1970. Annu. Rev. Sociol , 41-64.

Dixon, T. L., & Azocar, C. L. (2007). Priming Crime and Activating Blackness: Understanding the Psychological Impact of the Overrepresentation of Blacks as Lawbreakers on Television News. Journal of Communication , 229-253.

Gilliard-Matthews, S., Kowalski, B. R., & J., L. R. (2008). Officer Race and Citizen Reported Traffic Ticket Decisions by Police in 1999 and 2002. Police Quarterly , 202-221.

Kowalski, B. R., & Lundman, R. J. (2007). Vehicle stops by police for driving while Black: Common problems and some tentative solutions. Journal of Criminal Justice 35 , 165-181.

Lundman, R. J. (2003). The Newsworthiness and Selection Bias in News About Murder: Comparative and Relative Effects of Novelty and Race and Gender Typifications on Newspaper Coverage of Homicide. Sociological Forum Vol 18 No 3 September , 357-387.

Mitchell, T. L., Haw, R. M., Pfeifer, J. E., & Meissner, C. A. (2005). Racial Bias in Mock Juror Decision-Making: A Meta-Analytic Review of Defendant Treatment. Law and Human Behavior Vol 29 No 6 , 621-638.

Piquero, A. R., & Brame, R. W. (2008). Assessing the Race-Crime and Ethnicity-Crime Relationship in a Sample of Adolescent Delinquents. Crime and Deliquency , 1-34.

Poulson, R. L. (1990). Mock Juror Attribution of Criminal Responsibility: Effects of Race and the Guilty But Mentally Ill (GBMI) Verdict Option. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 1596-1611.

Schafer, J. A., Carter, D. L., Kat-z Bannister, A. J., & Wells, W. M. (2006). Decision Making in Traffic Stop Encounters: A Multivariate Analysis of Police Behavior. Police Quarterly Vol 9 No 2, June , 184-209.

Scott, J., & Marshall, G. (2009). "crime". Retrieved Oct 27, 2009, from A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford Reference Online: http://www.oxfordreference.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t88.e441

Scott, J., & Marshall, G. (2009). "race". Retrieved Oct 27, 2009, from A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford Reference Online: http://www.oxfordreference.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t88.e1859

Struckman-Johnson, C., Miller, M. G., & Struckman-Johnson, D. (2008). Effects of Native American Race, Intoxication and Crime Severity on Judgements og Guilt. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 1981-1992.

Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Mason, M., & Zingraff, M. (2004). Looking for the Driving While Black Phenomena: Conceptualizing Racial Bias Processes and their Associated Distributions. Police Quarterly Vol 7 No 1 March , 3-29.

Warren, P., Tomaskovic-Devey, Smith, W., Zingraff, M., & Mason, M. (2006). Driving WHile Black: Bias Processes and Racial Disparity in Police Stops. Criminology Vol 4 No 3 , 709-739.

Twyn Rivers Clean-Up Part II

The second annual Twyn Rivers Clean-Up was planned for November 15, 2008 but was cancelled due to rain. This unfortunate development was a source of disappointment but also of important lessons. Future clean-ups will be planned for early October and will have a scheduled rain-date by the third weekend of the month.

This also increases the importance that future group events be effectively planned. Possible upcoming events include a soup-kitchen volunteering activity and the Random Christmas Giveaway Part II.

Holla at yer boy

the Random Christmas Giveaway of Super Craziness

Although we had tried to coordinate a big group soup kitchen volunteering day, the soup kitchens were booked for volunteers for the holidays. Instead a few of us threw in some money and bought some sweaters from Value Village as well some clothes that had been donated directly to us. We took these downtown and handed them out to people whom we saw sleeping on the street or who looked like they needed a hand.

The Giveaway was an interesting day for everyone who came along on a number of different levels. Myself, I learned a little about the homeless, my friends and myself that day and I wouldn't trade the expereince of that day for the world.

After driving around handing clothes to whatever disadvantaged people we could find we realized that we would take far too long to hand them out at that rate. We had amassed a pretty impressive collection of donations and it seemed the rain had driven a lot of homeless people to hard to find places in search of shelter.

Passing by the Good Shepherd Shelter on Queen near Jarvis we found them serving dinner to people in need. With the permission of Father Ed we placed the clothes in an area that the shelter keeps where clothes is distributed to whoever might need them.

It was an amazing, powerful experience handing clothes out to those people. I helps keep one grounded as we celebrate the holidays, reminding us that not everyone is as fortunate as we are and it's better to give than to receive.

Soup Kitchen plan in the Works; Kyoto Now Protest

The decision has been made to volunteer at a soup kitchen as a group as the next activity. Group members who have expressed an interest include Nisse, Lalor and Shane. Finding a soup kitchen to volunteer at and getting a good time when everyone can make it are the next priorities. Tomorrow I will call around to some organizations engaged in this kind of charity work and find out how to proceed.

I will also be heading down to the Kyoto Now protest on Dec. 8. I've invited everyone on my facebook for some reason. I took the chance that it will be a worthwhile organization/activity and invited everyone on the grounds that only people who really have time to spare will come anyway and if they do then worst come worst we can talk about future group plans or just catch up or whatever.

Looking for Ideas

Since the Twin River Clean Up I have racked my brain for ideas for another group activity. The ideal activity would be one which can be done as a group, can be completed (or at least a significant contribution should be made) within a couple of hours, and which does not have any significant costs attached. That being said, I don't believe any activity such as this will have much merit without a certain element of sacrifice.

I have tabled the idea of a group blood donation day to several members privately and the response has been lukewarm. Anxieties seem centred around the invasiveness of a blood donation. Although members seem to be either opposed on these grounds or indifferent, no one has seemed very excited about the idea so I've shelved it for the time being.

Physical activities organized by large, corporate charities to raise funds has been a recurring theme in the group. These activities have generated a lot of positive feedback but they are sometimes exclusive in the sense that they often maintain minimum fund raising goals which make it difficult for some group members to participate. The Group to Make the World a Better Place is nothing if not inclusive regardless of economic status.

Although it may be difficult for some, if not all, Group members to overcome initial trepidation regarding the idea, I think that the popular movement known as "Free Hugs" would be an excellent use of Group time and energy. An idea like this is probably best promoted during the summer months, however, and will probably require a little convincing on my part.

With Christmas fast approaching, Food Banks will need a few extra pairs of hands to help out so that is always a possibility although the limit of ten volunteers at a time that I've seen on the web-site is a bit limiting.

Without any ideas standing out as extremely attractive off the bat I'll have to wait and see what materializes from further discussion with group members.

-Mike

Twin Rivers Clean-Up

There was a healthy turnout to the first activity of The Group to Make the World a Better Place today, The Twin Rivers Clean Up. We started cleaning where Twin Rivers Dr runs over the Rouge River, on the east bank of the river. From there group members spread out, some following closely along the bank of the river, some scanning a nearby field, some following the road. Some worked quietly, others caught up with old friends they hadn't seen in some time, still others joked around and made a game out of it. After all the work was done some of us climbed the hill on the road's south side, which gives a beautiful view of the valley, and watched the river go by. It was a moment of reflection after a job well done, a chance to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Did the Twin Rivers Clean Up really make a difference? I don't know if it did, but I'm glad I did it.