SECTION III – CORRELATES OF CRIME
Race/Ethnicity and Crime
Module 14 examines how ideas about race have influenced criminological theory and the functioning of the criminal justice system. To start, the module provides a brief history of how race has been defined and used to justify unequal treatment. This background helps clarify how early theories, including sociobiological approaches, drew on those ideas and sometimes reinforced forms of institutional racism.
The module then covers key moments in American law and politics, from the pre–Civil War era to Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the mid-20th century. These periods influenced the development of civil rights protections and led to several important cases where private individuals challenged discriminatory practices.
The final section brings the discussion into the modern era, highlighting how racial disparities still appear in policing, sentencing, and capital punishment. The death penalty is used as a key example of how race impacts the most severe outcomes in the criminal justice system.
By the end of this module, you will better understand how historical ideas about race still influence criminal justice policy and practice today.
Learning Objectives
After completing this module, you should be able to:
- describe the historical development of ideas about race and explain how modern science views race as a social construct rather than a biological category.
- identify and compare major criminological theories that explore the connection between race and crime, including sociobiological theories, social disorganization, the subculture of violence, and racial threat theory.
- explain how race has influenced American law and policy from the 17th century to today, using examples like Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Jim Crow laws, and Reconstruction-era reforms.
- analyze racial and ethnic disparities throughout the criminal legal system, including policing, arrests, pretrial detention, sentencing, community supervision, and algorithmic risk assessment.
- evaluate how perceptions of fairness and systemic bias vary by race, political identity, and community type, and explain why personal expectations for fair treatment might differ from wider views of injustice.
- summarize existing national research on racial disparities in policing, including stops, searches, use of force, and public confidence in law enforcement.
- assess competing explanations for mass incarceration and analyze how policy decisions have influenced racial disparities in punishment.
- explain how race influences capital punishment, including historical disparities and current debates over fairness and reform.
- interpret historical instances of racial injustice, like the Scottsboro Boys case, and explain how they shaped due process rights and protections against biased jury practices.
- discuss how modern technologies enable new types of profiling and surveillance, and link these practices to historical patterns of racialized enforcement.
- describe how drug policy and media narratives influenced the crack cocaine era and discuss its unequal impact on Black communities.
Summary
Race, ethnicity, and crime are sensitive topics that have been examined through years of research, public debate, and policy analysis. Understanding this relationship requires recognizing that crime is influenced by numerous social, economic, and historical factors. Reducing criminal behavior solely to race or ethnicity oversimplifies a complex issue and overlooks the structural conditions that shape opportunities, community well-being, and interactions with the criminal justice system.
This module explores the long history of racial categories and demonstrates how early pseudoscientific ideas contributed to creating hierarchies that justified unequal treatment. The key reading by Pate and Plouffe traces the development of race from these early claims to the contemporary understanding of race as a social construct. The American Anthropological Association’s Race: Are We So Different? emphasizes this by explaining why race has no biological basis and how science, culture, and power have influenced beliefs about human differences.
Historical and legal developments also play a crucial role. Cases like Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and the Scottsboro Boys trials show how race influenced American law and why certain protections related to due process and jury rights exist today. These cases illustrate how racial discrimination operated openly in the courts and why it took decades of legal and political struggle to challenge it.
Ongoing research shows that Black and Hispanic people are overrepresented at nearly every stage of the criminal justice system, including stops, arrests, convictions, sentencing, and incarceration. Reports from the Urban Institute and Pew Research Center emphasize how policing practices, judicial discretion, risk assessment tools, and community supervision drive these disparities. Media coverage in this module, like CBS News’ Racial Profiling 2.0 and NBC’s reporting on wrongful convictions, demonstrates how new technologies and local practices can reinforce older biases. The Marshall Project’s work on mass incarceration questions common beliefs about imprisonment and provides a clearer understanding of how policy choices have shaped modern punishment.
Public perceptions add another important aspect. The Cato Institute’s analysis of systemic racial bias reveals how Americans view fairness differently based on their race, politics, and personal experiences. Many believe the system treats some groups unfairly even if they think they will be treated fairly themselves. These differences matter because public confidence affects legitimacy, cooperation with police, and broader trust in the justice system.
The module also explores how structural racism influences access to education, housing, employment, and economic opportunity. These enduring inequalities can lead to higher crime rates in marginalized communities, not because of racial traits but due to concentrated disadvantages and limited opportunities. Media narratives and stereotypes can reinforce these gaps by shaping public beliefs about crime and criminality. Intersectionality adds another layer by illustrating how people belonging to multiple marginalized groups may face unique types of discrimination or bias.
The materials in this module highlight that the link between race and crime is not exclusive to the United States; other countries have their own histories and patterns of inequality. Tackling these issues requires a comprehensive approach that includes reforming policing practices, expanding opportunities, investing in communities, and understanding how historical and structural forces influence modern outcomes.
Together, the readings, reports, videos, and audio resources help you develop a more comprehensive understanding of how race impacts crime, law, and justice. They also promote critical thinking, encourage questioning assumptions, and deepen your awareness of why discussions about race and criminal justice remain key to building a fair and equitable society.
| Theory / Perspective | Key Scholars | Assigned Resources | Policy Connections |
|---|---|---|---|
| Race as a social construct | American Anthropological Association; Haney López | Race: Are We So Different?; PBS “The Origins of Race” | Supports science-based approaches to policing, sentencing, and public discourse about race. |
| Criminological explanations of racial differences (sociobiology, social disorganization, subculture of violence) | Early biological theorists; Shaw and McKay; Wolfgang and Ferracuti | Chapter 17; Urban Institute report | Informs community investment, challenges biological determinism, and guides prevention strategies. |
| Social control and public perceptions (racial threat, legitimacy, procedural justice) | Blalock; Tyler; Weitzer and Brunson | Chapter 17; Pew policing data; Cato bias perceptions | Shapes discussions about surveillance, police accountability, and trust in the justice system. |
| Structural racism and inequality | Multiple scholars across sociology and criminology | Urban Institute report; NPR crack epidemic interview | Connects to policies addressing housing, education, economic opportunity, and systemic barriers. |
| Disparities in punishment (profiling, mass incarceration, death penalty) | DPIC; The Marshall Project; courts and civil rights advocates | DPIC Fact Sheet; Marshall Project analysis; Scottsboro Boys case; CBS profiling segment | Guides reforms related to sentencing, incarceration, capital punishment, and wrongful convictions. |
Key Takeaways
Click on the > to expand the related statement.
Key Terms/Concepts
Click on the following key term/concept to view the definition:
Black Codes
Brown v. Board of Education
Civil Rights Act of 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act)
Equal Protection Clause
Implicit Bias
Institutional Racism
Jim Crow Laws
Mass Incarceration
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Plessy v. Ferguson
Predictive Policing (Algorithmic Policing)
Race
Racial Profiling
Racial Threat Theory
Segregation
Sentencing Disparities
Reconstruction Era
Scottsboro Boys
Social Construction of Race
Social Disorganization
Sociobiological Theories
Stop-and-Frisk
Structural Racism
Subculture-of-Violence
War on Drugs
Modern Application
Douglas Heaven (July 2020) argues that, Predictive policing algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled (MIT Technology Review).
- How big data might contribute to effective police work and increase public safety?
- How a predictive algorithm is potentially skewed by arrest rates?
- According to US Department of Justice figures, you are more than twice as likely to be arrested if you are Black than if you are white.
- According to Dorothy Roberts who studies law and social rights at the University of Pennsylvania, “Racism has always been about predicting, about making certain racial groups seem as if they are predisposed to do bad things and therefore justify controlling them,” she said.
ProPublica – “Machine Bias” (2016)
- A concise investigation into how risk-assessment algorithms can reproduce racial disparities. This resource supports the module’s examination of modern decision-making tools and complements discussions of racial threat and social control.
Revisit the related modern application (AI and Criminal Justice) located within Module 4.
Read, Review, Watch and Listen
1. Read Chapter 17: Race/Ethnicity and Crime by Matthew Pate, State University of New York at Albany & William C. Plouffe Jr., Kutztown University.
- Print a copy or have access to this reading via a digital device for in class review and discussion.
- To support the student’s reading of the article, they can listen to a recorded version of the same. Note that listening to the article is not a substitute for a careful and directed reading of the document.
PART 1:
PART 2:
This Chapter:
- discusses the evolution of the concept of race, tracing it from early pseudoscientific hierarchies that rationalized social inequality to a modern understanding of race as a socially constructed mechanism that reinforces power imbalances.
- highlights various criminological theories addressing race and crime, such as sociobiological theories, the subculture of violence theory, and social disorganization theory, each presenting different perspectives on how racial dynamics may influence crime rates.
- explores the historical impact of race in American law and policy, illustrating how race has influenced legal decisions and public policy from the 17th century to the present, including major Supreme Court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education.
- reviews racial discrimination in criminal justice enforcement, examining practices like racial profiling and the disproportionate application of punitive measures on minorities, exemplified by cases such as the Rodney King incident and “driving while black” lawsuits.
- examines the influence of social control theories, including racial threat theory, which suggests that as minority populations increase, dominant groups may impose stricter social controls out of perceived economic and political threat, reinforcing racial inequalities within the criminal justice system.
2. Review American Anthropological Association. Race: Are We So Different?
- a. A short, student-friendly introduction to the social construction of race. This resource helps clarify why race is not a biological category and supports the module’s discussion of sociobiology and the Human Genome Project.
- b. The exhibition RACE: Are we so different? began a national tour in 2007, which ended in 2018. During this time, it was seen by more than 3 million people visiting 48 locations around the US.
- c. The exhibition brings together the everyday experience of living with race, its history as an idea, the role of science in that history, and the findings of contemporary science that are challenging its foundations.
3. Review via the Urban Institute, racial-and-ethnic-disparities-throughout-the-criminal-legal-system (Susan Nembhard and Lily Robin, 2021).
According to this report:
- The criminal legal system has roots in policies and laws that systematically oppressed people of color, such as Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. These laws were designed to control and segregate communities of color, shaping current disparities.
- Implicit biases among law enforcement contribute to racial disparities in stops, searches, arrests, and use of force. Black and Latine individuals are disproportionately stopped and searched, despite comparable or lower rates of contraband possession compared to white individuals.
- Judicial discretion often leads to harsher sentences for people of color. Black individuals face higher rates of pretrial detention, more severe charges, and harsher plea bargains, significantly impacting incarceration rates and durations.
- Black individuals are overrepresented in parole and probation systems, with more conditions to satisfy and higher rates of revocation. Systemic biases affect decisions on parole and community supervision outcomes.
- Risk assessment algorithms used in the criminal legal system often perpetuate racial bias. They rely on proxies, such as criminal history, that reflect systemic racism rather than individual risk factors, further entrenching disparities.
4. Review The Marshall Project’s Everything You Think You Know About Mass Incarceration Is Wrong – Or at least misleading, says this contrarian scholar. Here’s why it matters. (February, 2017).
5. Review via the Pew Research Center, 10 things we know about race and policing in the U.S. (Drew DeSilver, Michael Lipka and Dalia Fahmy, 2020).
- A significant majority of Black adults (84%) believe that Black people are treated less fairly than Whites in dealings with the police. This sentiment is shared by 63% of White adults.
- Black adults are about five times as likely as Whites to report being unfairly stopped by police due to their race or ethnicity (44% vs. 9%). This experience is particularly prevalent among Black men, with 59% reporting such incidents.
- Black Americans are less likely than Whites to express high confidence in the police. Only 14% of Black adults have a lot of confidence in their local police, compared to 42% of White adults.
- Black adults are less likely than Whites to rate police positively in areas such as using the right amount of force, treating racial and ethnic groups equally, and holding officers accountable for misconduct.
- A majority of Americans, including 66% of Black adults and 60% of White adults, support giving civilian oversight boards the power to investigate and discipline officers accused of misconduct.
6. Review Perceptions of Systemic Racial Bias (Cato Institute, 2017).
- Many Americans believe the criminal justice system does not treat all racial and ethnic groups equally, and these perceptions differ significantly based on race, politics, and community type.
- People often expect they will personally be treated fairly while still believing the system shows broader bias, especially toward Black and Hispanic communities.
- Perceptions of racial bias are closely linked to individual beliefs about harm and empathy, with those who score higher on compassion measures more likely to recognize systemic injustice.
7. Review the Death Penalty Information Center’s (DPIC) Facts about the Death Penalty Fact Sheet.
- According to the DPIC, the death penalty has been imposed disproportionately on racial minorities throughout most of U.S. history.
- Capital punishment advocates are more concerned with whether the death penalty is fairly imposed than whether there are ethnic differences in the rates of imposition.
- They say that the focus should be on sentencing those who commit capital crimes to death, regardless of any social characteristic (race, ethnicity, gender, etc.).
- The Washington-based Constitution Project has recommended that all jurisdictions imposing the death penalty should create mechanisms to help ensure it is not imposed in a racially discriminatory manner.
8. Review Scottsboro Boys (History, August 20, 2022) [last accessed August 2023].
- The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine African American teenagers who were falsely accused of raping two white women on a freight train in Alabama in 1931. The case gained national and international attention due to its blatant injustice and racial prejudice, becoming a symbol of the deeply ingrained racism and flawed legal system of the time.
- The defendants faced all-white juries and were quickly convicted, with eight sentenced to death. The youngest, 13-year-old Leroy Wright, had a mistrial due to a hung jury.
- In 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the defendants had been denied the right to counsel, violating the 14th Amendment. This decision overturned the convictions and mandated new trials.
- In 1935, the Supreme Court found that African Americans had been systematically excluded from juries, violating the defendants’ rights to equal protection. This ruling required further retrials.
- The Scottsboro Boys case exposed deep-seated racial biases in the American legal system and set precedents for the right to adequate legal representation and the inclusion of Black citizens on juries.
9. Watch Racial Profiling 2.0 (CBS News, February 20, 2020) [last accessed August 2023].
- A brief news segment that explores modern forms of profiling, including digital and algorithmic surveillance. It supports class discussion about contemporary policing practices.
10. Watch Inside The Push To End Mass Incarceration, Overturn Wrongful Convictions (NBC News, August 2021) [also embedded below].
11. Watch The Origins of Race (PBS, April 2018)
12. Listen to NPR’s Author Interviews, Why the crack cocaine epidemic hit Black communities ‘first and worst’ (Mosley, T. July 13, 2023) [last accessed November 2024].
To access the PPT file, click HERE. Note that files are updated regularly and as such might change in content and appearance.
Read, Review, Watch and Listen to all listed materials by the due date listed within the course LMS (i.e., Blackboard) site.
Contact the professor with any course-related questions
Click HERE to report any needed updates, e.g., broken links.
Discussion Questions
- How do socioeconomic conditions influence crime rates in racially and ethnically diverse communities, and what specific interventions can be implemented to address these root causes?
- What evidence supports the claim that racial and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and what are the potential solutions to address these disparities?
- In what ways have documented cases of racial bias and discriminatory policing practices affected the trust between law enforcement and minority communities, and what steps can be taken to rebuild this trust?
- How do historical institutional and structural racism contribute to higher crime rates among racial and ethnic minorities, and what long-term strategies are necessary to break this cycle?
- How do media portrayals of crime shape public perceptions of racial and ethnic groups, and what can be done to ensure more balanced and accurate media representations?
Supplemental Resources
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics (January 2018), Race and Ethnicity of Violent Crime: Offenders and Arrestees, 2018 (Allen J. Beck, Ph.D., BJS Statistician)
- Prevalence rate of violent crime in the United States from 2014 to 2022, by race/ethnicity (Statista, Sep. 2023) [last accessed Nov. 2023]
- 2019 Crime In the United States: Arrests by Race and Ethnicity (FBI, 2019) [last accessed, Nov. 2023]
- NPR Code Switch
- What’s CODE SWITCH? It’s the fearless conversations about race that you’ve been waiting for. Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. We explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between. This podcast makes all of us part of the conversation — because we’re all part of the story. Code Switch was named Apple Podcasts’ first-ever Show of the Year in 2020.
- The Appeal
- A podcast that discusses criminal justice reform and highlights stories of injustice, often focusing on how race and socioeconomic status influence legal processes.
- The Sentencing Project, Detailed Data Tool (Interactive)
Click HERE to learn more about Race and Racism in America (Sociology 2215) – This course is both a General Education Requirement and Transfer Oriented Elective.
References
Pate, M., & Plouffe, W. C., Jr. (2009). Race/Ethnicity and Crime. In J. M. Miller (Ed.), 21st Century Reference Series. 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook (Vol. 1, pp. 133-143). SAGE Reference. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3201600027/GVRL?u=cod_lrc&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=a8a15167
Laws passed after the Civil War in Southern states that restricted the rights and movement of newly freed African Americans and reinforced racial hierarchy.
The 1954 Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and marking a major victory in the Civil Rights Movement.
Legislation providing civil action against individuals who violated civil rights, originally aimed to curb violence and discrimination from groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
A part of the Fourteenth Amendment that requires states to treat individuals equally under the law and prohibits discriminatory practices.
Unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence decisions and behavior often contribute to unintentional racial disparities in policing and justice.
Also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded within the policies, practices, and structures of social institutions, leading to the perpetuation of racial disparities and inequalities. Unlike individual acts of racism, which involve prejudiced beliefs or discriminatory actions by individuals, institutional racism operates at a broader societal level and affects entire communities or racial/ethnic groups.
A series of state and local laws enacted in the United States from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. These laws enforced racial segregation and discrimination, primarily targeting African Americans and other racial minorities, particularly in the Southern states.
The term "Jim Crow" originated from a caricature of a Black man used in minstrel shows in the 19th century, which perpetuated racial stereotypes. The Jim Crow laws were a response to the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877), during which significant efforts were made to establish civil rights for African Americans following the abolition of slavery. As Reconstruction ended, Southern states began enacting laws to establish a system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement.
The large-scale imprisonment of Americans, disproportionately affecting Black and Hispanic communities due to policy decisions, sentencing laws, and enforcement practices.
A civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded on February 12, 1909, in response to widespread racial violence and discrimination against African Americans, particularly the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois.
The NAACP's mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for all people and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The organization has been instrumental in advocating for civil rights and working towards the elimination of segregation and other forms of racial injustice.
The NAACP uses a variety of strategies to achieve its goals, including legal action, advocacy, lobbying, and public education. Throughout its history, the NAACP has played a crucial role in landmark civil rights cases, such as Brown v. Board of Education, which led to the desegregation of public schools, and it has been involved in numerous other efforts to combat discrimination and promote equal rights for all citizens. The organization continues to be active in addressing contemporary civil rights issues.
A landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation laws for public facilities under the “separate but equal” doctrine, later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education.
The use of data and algorithms to forecast crime patterns or identify “high-risk” individuals or locations, often criticized for reproducing racial bias.
A social construct used to categorize and classify human populations based on physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, and facial features. The concept of race has been historically used to distinguish and group people into distinct categories, often with the assumption of inherent biological or genetic differences between racial groups.
It is important to understand that race is a social construct and not a biological or scientific category. While there are variations in physical traits among human populations, genetic variation does not align neatly with traditional racial classifications. In fact, genetic differences between individuals within a racial group are often greater than differences between racial groups.
The understanding of race and racial categories varies across different cultures and societies, and classifications have changed over time. Racial categories can also be influenced by cultural, historical, and political factors.
Due to its social nature, race has been used as a basis for discrimination, inequality, and prejudice throughout history. However, it is crucial to recognize that race should not be used to determine intelligence, character, or other inherent qualities of individuals or groups. Acknowledging the social construct of race is essential in promoting a more inclusive and equitable society that respects the diversity of human populations and values the dignity and rights of all individuals, regardless of their racial background.
A law enforcement practice in which individuals are targeted or treated differently by law enforcement solely based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, or perceived racial characteristics. It involves the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in making decisions about whom to stop, question, search, or investigate, without any specific evidence of criminal activity or wrongdoing.
A perspective suggesting that an increase in a minority population can be perceived as a threat by the majority group, leading to stricter social controls and legal measures to maintain dominance.
Refers to the enforced separation of different racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups in a community, organization, or society. This separation can occur in various aspects of life, such as housing, education, employment, and public facilities. Historically, segregation has been most prominently associated with racial segregation, particularly in the United States during the era of Jim Crow laws, where laws and policies enforced the separation of African Americans from white Americans in various public spaces.
Segregation can take different forms, including de jure segregation, which is segregation imposed by law, and de facto segregation, which occurs without explicit legal mandates but as a result of social and economic factors. Efforts to combat segregation and promote integration have been central to various civil rights movements around the world. The goal is to create more inclusive and equitable societies where individuals from different backgrounds have equal access to opportunities and resources.
Unequal sentencing outcomes for different racial or ethnic groups, often influenced by judicial discretion, law enforcement practices, and systemic bias.
The period after the Civil War (1865–1877) when the federal government attempted to rebuild the South and expand civil rights for newly freed African Americans.
A landmark legal case in the United States that exposed racial injustice and highlighted the deep racial prejudices and flaws in the American justice system during the 1930s. The case involved the wrongful arrest, trial, and conviction of nine African American teenagers on false charges of raping two white women.
The idea that race is created and defined by society rather than biology is shaped through history, politics, and social forces.
A criminological theory that focuses on the influence of neighborhood characteristics and social factors on crime and deviance. Developed by sociologists at the University of Chicago, particularly Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, in the early 20th century, this theory examines how certain neighborhood attributes can contribute to higher rates of crime and a breakdown in social control.
Also known as evolutionary psychology or sociobiology, are theoretical frameworks that seek to explain human behavior and social phenomena by integrating evolutionary biology and genetics with social and cultural factors. These theories propose that certain behavioral and social traits in humans have evolved through natural selection, as they provided survival and reproductive advantages to our ancestors.
A policing practice where officers stop, question, and search individuals they suspect of wrongdoing, often criticized for racial disparities in its application.
Long-term and widespread racial inequality is produced by interconnected systems such as housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system.
A sociological concept that proposes the existence of certain subcultures or social groups within a society that promote and accept violence as a means of resolving conflicts and gaining social status. This theory was first introduced by Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti in the 1960s as an attempt to explain the high rates of violent crime in urban areas.
A set of policies beginning in the 1970s aimed at reducing drug use and trafficking, which is associated with significant racial disparities in arrests and sentencing.
