Criminal Justice Lecture outline - Salisbury University



Criminal Justice Lecture outline

Issues for you to consider in Group Discussion

1. What sorts of Double Standards are there in the Criminal Justice System?

Drug users Vs. Drug prisoners (& racial and ethnic differences)? (Cole)

“3 strikes” & “2 strikes” laws – R & E differences? (Cole)

Rich vs. Poor -- how is the criminal justice system like a funneling process with discrimination at every stage?(Reiman)?

White-Collar Crime vs. Street Crime?

2. What is the “code of the streets” & how does “respect” play a role? What is “oppositional culture” & how is it related to crime & how did it emerge (what role of social structural conditions and discrimination)? (Anderson)

3. How is Opportunity Structure in the very poor, segregated urban neighborhoods related to Crime? What institutional supports are missing? How could legitimate opportunities be increased (think institutions) (Wilson web rdg.)

4. How much does a criminal record affect one’s job prospects, even in a state with laws limiting such effects? Are there any racial differences? (Pager )

Lecture & Some Group Discussion Points

Overarching Issue in Readings – Double Standard (bias), and Unequal Justice (esp. Cole and Reiman rdgs).

Current Events examples-- Jenna, Louisiana case, Allan Iverson case – African Americans punished harshly for minor crimes, while whites go unpunished.

White-Collar Crime (vs. Street crime) as huge problem -- costs society hundreds of billions $ / year), but not often prosecuted (ala Reiman rdg)

--current events examples; Lehman Bros. & Goldman Sachs cases -- massive fraud by Wall Street banks key factor in current economic crisis, yet no prosecutions.

CJ System as a Funnel (from stop to arrest to being charged to trial to conviction to sentence to to prison), wealthy and poor treated differently at each stage of the funnel, and wealthy more likely tossed out of CJ system at each stage (Reiman rdg.)

Drug Use in US (by racial and ethnic group)

Vs. Drug prisoner population (by R&E group) (Cole & some misc info. I brought in)

Drug crime violence in Mexico – link to authorities there and to US drug consumption…

100:1 sentencing disparity for powder cocaine vs. crack & racial differences in prosecution,

Race of crack convicts vs. crack users (Cole)

& Vs. Increasing leniency for marijuana when use increased by white middle class youth. (Cole)

Arrest rate increases and racial differences, & role of drug arrests in overall arrest rate increase (Cole) -- i.e., if factor out drug arrests, what is arrest rate difference between whites & blacks?

Why drug enforcement happens more in poor minority neighborhoods (Reiman)

Poor suspects’ reliance on public defenders relationship to likelihood of conviction (Reiman)

“Code of the Streets” Centered on respect, “Decent” families vs. “Street” families. How & why did “code” emerge, what social conditions in neighborhoods? (Anderson)

Lack of legitimate opportunities & abundance of illegitimate opportunities in poor, inner city, segregated areas, & lack of mainstream institutions there, & relationship of all this to crime by residents (Wilson web rdg.) Structural conditions that lead to “code of the streets” Anderson writes about

“Oppositional Culture” in “code of the streets” (Anderson rdg.) & link to crime, & rooted in lack of economic opportunities (like Wilson noted) and on-going discrimination – lead to alienation from mainstream society & rise of alternative oppositional culture & code of streets and hyper violent masculinity

Police arrest data (UCR) Vs. Victim Survey (NCVS) data on race of offender – big differences between the 2 sources & implications regarding racial bias among police…(Reiman rdg.)

Other things to know, but not mentioned much in class:

• Job search problems for ex-offenders once released, & racial differences in that & discriminaiton (Pager rdg)

• Widespread racial inequality in criminal justice system – esp. in drug enforcement – crack prosecutions (vs. drug use stats by race), 3 strikes laws, in juvenile crime, etc. (Cole rdg.)

• What is crime rate difference for EMPLOYED blacks and whites? (Wilson web rdg.)

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