Criminal Justice Resources

Racial disparities are documented in every aspect of the criminal justice system, from massive stop and frisk operations, to who is arrested, charged and convicted. While the powered and crack cocaine sentencing inequality was dramatic, racial disparities exist in sentencing across the board. In
another example of structural racism, a felony record makes it all the more difficult to get a job. With so many African American and Latino men serving time in prison, their families and communities are financially stymied. Further, in the states where felons lose their right to vote, large numbers of people of color are disenfranchised.

Links to additional resources:

Punishment and Inequality In America, Bruce Western, 2006
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/rappaport/downloads/b101/western%20ksg.pdf

Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration, Becky Pettit and Bruce Western, 2004 abstract http://asr.sagepub.com/content/69/2/151.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc

Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, The Sentencing Project, 2008
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf

State Rates of Incarceration by Race, The Sentencing Project, 2004
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/racialdisparity.pdf

Fixed Sentencing Reforms: the Effect on the Racial Composition of Imprisonment Rates Overtime, Presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, 2008
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/4/1/8/7/p241871_index.html

Intended and Unintended Consequences: State Racial Disparities in Imprisonment, The Sentencing Project, 1999, Report Summary
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_smy_iandu_conseq.pdf

Abstract -
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=174078

Disparity by Geography The War on Drugs In America’s Cities, The Sentencing Project , 2008
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/dp_drugarrestreport.pdf

Race and Justice Clearinghouse, resource of information, analysis and commentary, The Sentencing Project,
http://www.sentencingproject.org/clearinghouse/

Racial Disparity in Sentencing, A Review of the Literature, The Sentencing Project, 2005
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_sentencing_review.pdf

Created Equal Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System, The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2009 http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pdf/CreatedEqualReport2009.pdf

Racially Disproportionate Outcomes in Processing Drug Cases, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, 2001
http://www.cjpf.org/sentencing/raciallydisproportionate.html

Punishment and Prejudice Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs, Human Rights Watch, 2000
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/

Excessive Police Stops in Brooklyn, New York Times, July 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/nyregion/12frisk.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

21 Percent Rise in Stop and Frisks by New York Police, 88 percent black or Latino, Center for Constitutional Rights, 2010
http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/21-percent-rise-stop-and-frisks-second-quarter-over-last-year%3B-88-percent-of-those-stopped-stops-bla

Stop and Frisk Data, Center for Constitutional Rights,2010
http://ccrjustice.org/stopandfrisk

Floyd et al v. City of New York et al, Stop-and-Frisk Class Action Suit, Center for Constitutional Rights,
http://ccrjustice.org/floyd

And Justice for Some
http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2007jan_justice_for_some.pdf

America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline, Children’s Defense Fund, 2007
http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/cradle-prison-pipeline-report-2007-full-highres.html

Cradle to Prison Pipeline Summary Fact Sheet, Children’s Defense Fund, 2009
http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/cradle-to-prison-pipeline-overview-fact-sheet-2009.pdf

Native American Youth and the Juvenile Justice System, The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2008
http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2008_Focus_NativeAmerican.pdf

Highly Disproportionate Treatment of Native American Youth in Juvenile Justice System, The National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2008 http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/dnld/PressReleaseNAYouth.pdf

Off Balance Youth Race and Crime in the News, 2001, http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/01-04_REP_OffBalanceNews_JJ-RD.pdf

Youth Violence Myths and Realities: The Different Story of Delinquent Youth as Told by the Media and by Juvenile Justice System Professionals and the Youth Themselves , The National Council on Crime and
Delinquency, 2009
http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pdf/Casey_Youth_Report_Fin.pdf

U.S. Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities, Human Rights Watch, 2002
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2002/02/26/us-incarceration-rates-reveal-striking-racial-disparities

Decades of Disparity, Drug Arrests and Race in the United States, Human Rights Watch, 2009
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/03/02/decades-disparity

The Persistence of Racial and Ethnic Profiling in the U.S., ACLU 2009
http://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/humanrights/cerd_finalreport.pdf

Disenfranchisement

Expanding the Vote, The Sentencing Project, 2008
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/fd_statedisenfranchisement.pdf

Criminal Justice Disparities Towards Solutions

Reducing Racial Disparities in Juvenile Detention, Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2002
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/02-02_REP_Pathways8_JJ-RD.pdf

Reducing Disproportionate Minority Confinement: The Multnomah County Oregon Success Story and Its Implications, Justice Policy Institute, 2002 http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/02-01_REP_ORMultnomahDMCSuccess_RD.pdf

Racial Disparity Initiative, A Project of the Council on Crime and Justice, Minnesota
http://www.racialdisparity.org/reports_defining.php

Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: a Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers, The Sentencing Project, 2008
http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf

Promising Models for Reforming Juvenile Justice Systems, Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund, 2009
http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/child-watch-columns/child-watch-documents/promising-models-for-reforming.html

Racial Justice Program, ACLU
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/about-racial-justice-program

Criminal Justice Disparities Sources

Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government

The Sentencing Project: Tushar Kansal, Ryan S. King

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency: Christopher Hartney, Linh Vuong