Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

People And Power: Person-First Language Usage And The Criminal Justice System, Casey E. Orr

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

Language is power. Word choice and terminology, especially those referring to people, are expressions of societal norms and institutional power. Dehumanizing crime-first terms and labels are abundant and common in criminal justice contexts despite being protested by system-involved individuals and activists. Instead, many advocate for person-first terms wherein identifying language emphasizes an individual’s humanity. With a peace-focused anthropological framework, this paper presents the case for person-first language in criminal justice contexts. It is evident that adopting first-person language usage regarding the criminal justice system is necessary after analyzing and considering the multiple sources, such as the voices of those who …

The War On Drugs, Moral Panics, And The Groundhog Day Effect: Confronting The Stereotypes That Perpetuate The Cycle Of Disparity, Tasha Withrow

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

There has been a specter haunting America for over 400 years. That specter is an insidious and destructive beast that has found its way into every crevice and layer of all American institutions. Racism, racial stereotypes, racial stigma, biases, and White supremacy has infiltrated every power structure since the foundation of America and has created a system of social control that has perpetually oppressed, marginalized, and disenfranchised generations of people of color. One of the most catastrophic by-products generated from America’s historic racist ideology has been that of the over-criminalization of people of color for drug crimes justified by discriminatory …

The Criminal Justice System And The Lgbtq Community: An Anti-Queer Regime, Steven Peck

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The LGBTQ community in the US, while experiencing great strides in social equality, continues to suffer disproportionately in the criminal justice system. Historical precedents of criminalizing the LGBTQ community are rife within the criminal justice system; the establishment of anti-sodomy laws, belief of inherent criminality, and a heteronormative perspective have all fostered a greater anti-queer regime. The criminalization and incarceration of the LGBTQ community remain steadfastly in place, with little to no reprieve. Establishing a new narrative in the criminalization and imprisonment of the LGBTQ community may assist in efforts to achieve real change within the criminal justice system. Moving …

The “Innocence Penalty”: Is It More Pronounced For Juveniles?, Nilam A. Sanghvi, Elizabeth A. Delosa

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Despite the presumption of innocence, we know that individuals accused of crimes are punished for maintaining their innocence in ways both tangible and intangible as they make their way through our criminal justice system. For example, even if instructed not to, jurors may infer guilt from a defendant’s failure to testify; defendants who exercise their right to go to trial receive lengthier sentences if convicted than those who plead guilty; and, once convicted, defendants who maintain their innocence are often denied opportunities for parole or clemency. This article explores whether these “innocence penalties” are even greater for children who are …

Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep The Formerly Incarcerated Tethered To The Criminal Justice System, Bryan L. Adamson

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article examines the constitutionality of statutes which allow courts to transfer outstanding legal financial obligations to private debt collection agencies. In Washington State, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligation of a formerly incarcerated person if he or she is only thirty days late making a payment. Upon transfer, the debt collection agencies can assess a “collection fee” of up to 50% of the first $100.000 of the unpaid legal financial obligation, and up to 35% of the unpaid debt over $100,000. This fee becomes part of the LFO debt imposed at sentencing, and like that …

The Victimization Of The Misconceived: The Mentally Ill In The Criminal Justice System, Margarita Trejo

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

It is unfortunate to say that the number of people who suffer from a serious mental illness has been drastically increasing in the criminal justice system since the late 1960s. This drastic change has captivated the minds of the public, forced them to develop a fallacious stereotype, and labeled the mentally ill population as wrongdoers. This image, however, is inaccurate. In reality, these people are the victims of a broken system. This paper establishes the victimization that a person with a serious mental illness experiences as they are processed through the criminal justice system. The following elaborates how victimization is …

Crime, Drugs, And Race, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

The crime and criminal record statistics of black Americans are frightening; and they keep getting worse. These figures, of course, give us pause. Yet, it must be kept in mind that none of these figures demonstrates that blacks as a race are more prone to crime. Rather, the figures show that the average black person in the United States is more likely than the average white person to be so situated in the social structure that he or she is more likely to be involved in crime, with an even higher likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and imprisoned.

African-Americans And The Administration Of Justice, E. Yvonne Moss, Roy Austin, Nolan Jones, Barry A. Krisberg, Hubert G. Locke, Michael L. Radelet, Susan Welch

Trotter Review

The status of African Americans in relationship to the administration of justice has improved since the 1940s. Significantly, however, researchers continue to find racial discrimination and racial disadvantage operating in various aspects of the criminal justice process in numerous jurisdictions. Such findings are unacceptable in a society that claims to honor equal justice under law.

This article is reprinted from Summary, Volume 1 of the Assessment of the Status of African-Americans series, published in 1990 by the William Monroe Trotter Institute, University of Massachusetts at Boston, and edited by Wornie L. Reed. Materials included in the article were adapted …

Judicial Incentives: Some Evidence From Urban Trial Courts, Greg A. Caldeira

IUSTITIA

In the following pages, I shall outline the basics of a method for studying the motivations of trial judges - or any public officials, for that matter - that I find particularly interesting and fruitful - "incentive theory". The use of incentive theory is, in my view, a preliminary contribution to an ongoing movement to fill glaring gaps in the literature on judicial motivation and trial judging.

The Street Perspective: A Conversation With The Police, Patrick L. Baude

IUSTITIA

Professor Baude's purpose in this discussion is to elicit police officers' comments on what members of the legal profession ought to know about the influence of the "street perspective" in shaping those officers' attitudes towards the criminal justice system and the role they play in it. It is police insistence on the broad validity of insights which only "the street" can provide that accounts for the considerable gulf between "front-line" enforcement officers and other functionaries in (and students of) that system. Law students (and no doubt lawyers) seem uncomfortable with the notion that our system cannot adequately be understood without …

Correctional System Needs, Susan S. Cole

IUSTITIA

One of the most difficult and pressing problems now facing local, state and national leaders is the failure of the criminal justice system. There is ample evidence of the system's failure: during the years 1960 to 1969, when the population increased by 13%, crime increased 1487,' and it is still increasing. Yet, correctional institutions do not appear to be places where criminal behavior is changed or where offenders are rehabilitated. They appear to be, instead, places where offenders are exposed to the most advanced criminal techniques and the most extreme anti-social behavior. Recidivism rates are estimated as high as 8070.