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CHAPTER 19
Race, Ethnicity, and Corrections
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Analyze the meaning of race and ethnicity.
3. Describe the significance of race and punishment.
LESSON PLAN
Correlated to PowerPoints
I. Race in the Correctional Context
Learning Objective 1: Analyze the meaning of race and ethnicity.
A. There are more African American men in prison than in college.
1. In fact, African American men born in the 1960s are more likely to go to prison
than to finish a four-year degree or serve in the military.
3. Among African Americans below the age of 18, referrals to juvenile court
occur at more than twice the rate for whites.
4. Implications
a. The pervasiveness of corrections in the lives of people of color has
evolved gradually, fueled by the 1980s war on drugs and the enormous
growth of our penal system.
b. In everyday thinking of many Americans, crime—particularly violent
street crime—is a racial phenomenon.
c. When white Americans imagine burglars, robbers, or rapists, they often
think of African American men, and they think fearfully of African
American men in general.
d. This had crucial consequences for relations among the races in the
United States.
Class Discussion/Activity
Ask students to describe what they see when they hear the word criminal. Ask them to discuss
why this picture comes to mind. Do they think their vision is typical of most Americans? Why or
why not? What could we do to change the picture that pops into most people’s heads?
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Instructor’s Manual
What If Scenario
What if you wanted to increase diversity awareness among your corrections officers and staff?
How would you do it?
II. The Concepts of Race and Ethnicity
A. Race and ethnicity are complex concepts.
2. Social scientists also look at the ways in which groups define themselves and
are defined by others.
3. So many Americans with interracial backgrounds make it difficult to accept a
Media Tool
Visit http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/
o John Jay College of Criminal Justice
o Discuss this in class. What were students able to learn about the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice? How is this school different from other universities?
Class Discussion/Activity
Ask students to discuss how aware they are of racial differences in their lives. Ask them where
they think this awareness or lack of awareness stems from.
B. Ethnicity is a concept that is used to divide people according to their cultural
characteristics: language, religion, and group tradition.
1. It is usually reported by the subjects themselves, rather than coming from
outsiders based on visual characteristics.
What If Scenario
What if you could compare the past to the present in relation to ethnicity of incarcerated
individuals? What would both “look like?”
Class Discussion/Activity
Ask students to discuss how aware they are of ethnicity differences in their lives. Ask them
where they think this awareness or lack of awareness stems from.
Media Tool
Visit http://www.doc.sc.gov/research/statistics.jsp
o Race and Gender in the South Carolina Department of Corrections
o Discuss this in class. What trends are there in corrections that pertain to race and/or
gender? Are the trends going in a positive or negative direction, according to the site
students researched? Explain why.
Chapter 19: Race, Ethnicity, and Corrections
See Assignments 1, 2, and 4
III. Visions of Race and Punishment
Learning Objective 2: Explain how varying visions of race and punishment influence our
thinking on this issue.
A. In corrections, issues of racial and ethnic disparities are most apparent with regard to
African Americans and Hispanics who are subjected to the criminal justice system at
much higher rates than the white majority is.
1. Disparity does not necessarily mean discrimination.
a. Disparity refers to the difference between groups that can be explained
by legitimate factors.
What If Scenario
What if you had to pinpoint one explanation for the overrepresentation of black males in the
corrections system? What would it be and why?
B. Explanations for the cause of racial disparities in the criminal justice system can be
roughly grouped according to three themes:
C. Differential Criminality
2. However, self-report studies have shown that nearly everyone admits to having
committed a crime during his or her lifetime, although most people are never
caught.
D. A Racist Criminal Justice System
1. The basis of this argument is that racial disparities become discrimination when
2. African Americans make up 13 percent of the population but more than one-
fourth of all arrests.
4. Consider disparity in drug offenses:
a. African Americans are more than twice as likely to be arrested for drug
offenses, even though studies show that African American youths are
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5. Beyond system-wide claims of bias, some question whether police, prosecutors,
and judges treat whites and people of color equally.
6. Criminality is related to socioeconomic disadvantage, and many people of color
suffer a great disadvantage.
7. Social problems such as poverty, single-parent families, and unemployment are
8. Some reformers have considered ways to eliminate racism from the system; the
solution depends on how the problem is defined.
a. The step-by-step decisions of the criminal justice system mean that
African Americans, the unemployed, and the poor often appear at
sentencing hearings with more-extensive prior records and fewer prospects
for reform. Thus, what appears discriminatory may simply represent the
E. A Racist Society
2. The strongest voices claim that the system operates as an instrument of such
racism.
3. Many believe the relationship between racism and the criminal justice system is
4. Racist institutions help produce the higher crime rate among minorities, and
then racist fears of people of color help justify treating them more harshly when
they are caught.
5. A collateral consequence of overrepresentation of African Americans in the
felony justice system is disenfranchisement.
a. All but two states (Vermont and Maine) forbid voting by felony-
convicted people while incarcerated.
Chapter 19: Race, Ethnicity, and Corrections
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b. More than half of the states forbid anyone under correctional control
(including community corrections) from voting.
c. Seven states deny voting rights to ex-felons.
d. In all, 13 percent of African American (1.4 million) men are
permanently banned from voting in the states in which they live.
e. The loss of vote has denied them access to political participation in a
way that has racially disparate effects.
IV. Which is it: Race or Racism?
A. The presented hypothetical case of Wilson and Edwards illustrates how complicated
V. The Significance of Race and Punishment
Learning Objective 3: Describe the significance of race and punishment.
A. The repercussions of racial disparities in the criminal justice system have already
become a force to be reckoned with by policy makers.
B. The fact that such a high percentage of young African American men are behind bars
C. How do we interpret the problems of race that we see in our corrections system? What
can we do to overcome them?
2. We must ferret out and refuse to tolerate incidents of blatant racism in justice
practices or policy.
3. We must recognize that as long as racism is a force in the larger society, any
attempt to eradicate it from the criminal justice system will have only marginal
prospects for success.
Class Discussion/Activity
Ask students whether there should be more people of color working in corrections. If so, why?
What efforts could be made to recruit and place more people of color within the staff and line
personnel of correctional departments?
What If Scenario
What if a fellow officer routinely told racist jokes? How would you feel? Would you feel
different if one of the jokes were told when someone of a different race was in the room and
within earshot of you two?
Instructor’s Manual
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Media Tool
Visit http://www.nabcj.org/
o National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice
o Discuss this in class. What positive influencing factors is this organization striving to
promote? In what ways might an organization like this and others affect prison
populations, incarceration rates, and prison life?
See Assignment 3
LECTURE NOTES
By many accounts, this may be the most salient chapter in the book since it addresses the
intersection and relationships between race, ethnicity, and corrections in the United States. It is
likely that some of the students in your class will view this chapter as the most important, and
This content is potentially complicated and volatile, and the issues raised in this chapter are often
difficult for people to talk about. Often students remain silent in the face of such content as they
are worried they will say something wrong or stupid. It is also likely that someone will say
something another person will find offensive. When teaching this chapter, it is critical that you
maintain a safe environment and elicit participation, respond well to students’ remarks, and
guide meaningful debate. To this end, set ground rules before conversation begins. Engage
students to help create the terms by which they will agree to conduct themselves. Hold them to
these conditions.
This chapter begins by introducing the reality that there are more black men in prison than there
are in college. The authors relay that this was not always the case and go on to review the
and ethnicity are and aren’t. This chapter introduces terms and language that may not be familiar
to your students. Review and make sure that students understand their meanings, including
disparity and discrimination.
The authors recount three common arguments used to explain the racial and ethnic disparities
found in our prison system. Students should be very familiar with each explanation, especially
Chapter 19: Race, Ethnicity, and Corrections
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the reasoning behind each account. It may be constructive to dissect the evidence and compare
the various arguments.
Finally, this chapter stresses how complicated this issue is. It is imperative that students
KEY TERMS
Race
Traditionally, a biological concept used to distinguish groups of people by their skin color and
other physical features.
Ethnicity
A concept used to distinguish people according to their cultural characteristics—language,
religion, and group traditions.
Disparity
The unequal treatment of one group by the criminal justice system, compared with the treatment
accorded other groups.
Discrimination
Differential treatment of an individual or group without reference to the behavior or
qualifications of the same.
Self-report study
An investigation of behavior (such as criminal activity) based on subjects’ responses to questions
concerning activities in which they have engaged.
Racial threat hypothesis
The belief that white fear of African Americans is least when whites are the majority but greatest
when African Americans are a substantial minority.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Have students identify if there are other places in our society where they see
Instructor’s Manual
2. Have students write about why race and ethnicity are hard to talk about. Have them
submit their typed work anonymously and put together a compilation of all the papers.
3. Ask students why it is that African American men are disproportionately represented in
4. Ask students to select two states and research statistics on ethnicity within the state
ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Although the answers provided below will vary from student to student, the responses should include at a
minimum a discussion of the following key points.
1. Describe the main reasons that people of color are overrepresented in the criminal justice
system. Does overrepresentation represent a problem? What, if anything, can be done to
change the pattern?
2. What impact does a high incarceration rate have on minority communities? What implications
does this impact have for the effectiveness of the criminal justice system?
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3. How does the close relationship between politics and criminal justice policy reflect issues of
race and punishment?
4. If you were writing a sentencing code, would you give people lighter sentences if they came
from disadvantaged backgrounds? Why or why not?
5. What are the most important steps to take to reduce racial differences in punishments? Why?