Racial prejudice, perceived injustice, and the Black-White gap in punitive attitudes
Introduction
The response to crime and violence in the United States has become increasingly punitive over the last several decades. Harsh crime policies ranging from “three strikes” laws and truth in sentencing to the criminalization of drug use and waiving juvenile offenders to adult courts all emerged as part of the “war on crime.” The laws passed as a result of this “get tough” movement have led to soaring incarceration rates and burgeoning state and federal crime budgets. The incarceration rate jumped from 221 in 1980 (Beck & Gilliard, 1995) to 724 in 2004 (Harrison & Beck, 2005). Currently, over two million people in the United States are behind bars, and another 4.9 million are on probation or parole (Glaze and Palla, 2005, Harrison and Beck, 2006). The “get tough” approach to crime is costly. In 2003, over $83 billion dollars was spent on police nationwide, with another $60 billion spent on corrections (K. A. Hughes, 2006). Federal spending on criminal justice topped $35 billion in 2003, an increase of 692 percent from 1982. State expenditures for criminal justice increased approximately 470 percent between 1982 and 2003, from $11.6 billion to $66 billion (K. A. Hughes, 2006).
Even in the face of an exploding prison population and a manifold increase in criminal justice spending, public opinion polls find widespread approval of harsh criminal justice policies among White Americans, and at least majority support among Black Americans. In an effort to understand the factors influencing popular support for punitive crime policies, researchers have tested a variety of explanations, ranging from fear of crime to political orientation. Results indicate that, for the most part, the punitive attitudes of Whites are not a rational and instrumental response to concerns about crime. Rather, it appears that Whites' preferences for harsh criminal justice policies are associated with social and political values and beliefs (Bobo and Johnson, 2004, Cohn et al., 1991, Tyler and Boeckmann, 1997). In contrast, concerns about crime are an important determinant of Blacks' punitive attitudes, along with views about the racial fairness of the justice system (Cohn et al., 1991, Johnson, 2006). To date, however, no study has fully explained the sources of the Black-White difference in punitiveness. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature.
Using data from the 2001 Race, Crime and Public Opinion Study, this article examines racial differences in levels of punitiveness. It answers the question: What factors account for the racial gap in punitiveness? Two main explanations are considered: perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system and racial prejudice. The findings show that these factors, together, explain the racial gap in punitive attitudes.
Section snippets
The racial gap in punitiveness
When it comes to punishing criminals, Blacks have historically been less punitive than Whites (Secret & Johnson, 1989). For example, one of the most consistent findings in survey research is that Whites are much more likely to favor the death penalty than are Blacks (Bobo and Johnson, 2004, Bohm, 1991, Cochran and Chamlin, 2006, Combs and Comer, 1984). In addition, research shows that Whites prefer more severe prison sentences than do Blacks (Blumstein and Cohen, 1980, Miller et al., 1986), and
Data and measures
The data for this analysis came from the 2001 Race, Crime and Public Opinion Study (RCPOS) (Bobo & Johnson, 2001). The RCPOS was a representative national sample of 978 non-Hispanic White and 1,010 non-Hispanic Black respondents living in U.S. households. The survey data were collected by Knowledge Networks using an innovative research design that employed a random digit dialing (RDD) telephone methodology to develop a representative sample of all U.S. households for participation in a panel,
Racial difference in support for punitive policies
Fig. 1 shows support for the punitive crime policies considered here, by race. Taken together, the results show that when it comes to punishing crime, the majority of both White and Black Americans prefer harsh treatment for lawbreakers. A sizable racial gap exists, however. White Americans are more likely than Black Americans to favor punitive sanctions. For example, 79 percent of the White respondents agreed that juveniles charged with a violent crime should be tried and sentenced in adult
Conclusions
Using the conflict perspective as a framework for understanding popular attitudes toward criminal justice policies, this research examined the sources of the Black-White difference in punitiveness. The results indicate that the racial gap in support for harsh criminal justice policies is linked to racial prejudice on the part of Whites and perceived injustice among Blacks. The findings support the conflict perspective in criminology, and demonstrate how Whites' and Blacks' attitudes toward
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