Unit 6: Systemic Disparitiesand Community Perceptions

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Prepared by

Building Community Trust:Improving Cross-Cultural Communication

in the Criminal Justice System

Where are we headed in this unit?

• Identify systemic disparities & community trust issues

Race, Culture & Community Confidence

• What do we know about community confidence in the criminal justice system?

• What are the institutional barriers that prevent some cultural groups form accessing justice?

Race, Culture & Community Confidence

• How do systemic justice issues impact community confidence?

• What do concepts of implicit bias, unearned privilege and advantage, micro-inequities tell us about the problems and the solutions?

Public Perceptions & Community Confidence

Research has repeatedly found that African-Americans are more likely than white Americans to perceive racial bias within the justice system.

Johnson, Devon. "Justice or Just Us? Perceived Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association

for Public Opinion Research, Sheraton Music City, Nashville, TN, Aug 16, 2003

Public Perceptions & Community Confidence

• Racial gap in perceptions of bias in administration of justice

– Linked to exposure to crime and contact with criminal justice system

– Not linked to socioeconomic status

--Johnson, “Justice or Just Us?”

1993 California Fairness Survey:

“Less than positive” public attitudes toward judicial system in California characterized by:

– Lack of access to justice

– Poor representation and treatment of minorities in the legal profession

– Fears of not receiving a “fair shake” from system

– Public perceptions of bias in jury system

1993 California Fairness Survey:

– Disparate treatment of minorities

– Abuse of judicial power

– Abuse of prosecutorial power

– Inadequate judicial accountability

– Impact of shrinking budget on judicial system

– Problem courtroom interaction

– Bias in media and juvenile justice system

1993 California Fairness Survey:Diversity of Personnel

– Greater diversity among lower level staff

– Least diversity among judges

1993 California Fairness Survey:Perceptions of Fairness

Judges:

Unbiased

Court personnel:

Mixed responses

Attorneys:

Biased

Community perceptions:

Varied with respect to

– How minority attorneys, women treated

– Fairness to minorities

1995 Gallup Poll

• More than half of Black Americans said the justice system was biased against them.

• 2/3 of African-Americans said police racism against African-Americans is common across the country, and a majority (52%) of Whites agreed.

Source of perceptions?

– Blacks arrested, convicted, incarcerated at higher rates than other racial/ethnic groups

• Less than half of arrests for violent crimes• Over half (60%) of prison admissions

– African American, Hispanic and Asian Americans• 26% of general population• 58% of prison population

Johnson, Robert M.A. “Racial Bias in the Criminal Justice System and Why We Should Care” -- Criminal Justice, Winter 2007 (citing Christopher Stone “Race, Crime and the Administration of Justice: A Summary of Available Facts,” Nat’l Inst. Just. J., 28 (1999) -

Other SOURCES of community perceptions &

community distrust?

How does this data compare with what we know (or think we know) about community

perceptions in our own jurisdiction?

IMPACT:

• Communities less willing to participate

• Hesitancy to testify

• View law enforcement as oppressor

• Decreased reports of crime– High concentrations of immigrant residents

• Juries may be less likely to convict

Other impacts?

Institutional Barriers that Prevent Some Groups from

Accessing Justice

What are they?

For example:

High Point, North Carolina

For example:

Prosecution & Racial Justice Program

Vera Institute of Justice