Professors against Gender Inequality and Rasism

Russell J. Skiba is a Professor in the School Psychology program and Director of the Equity Project at Indiana University. Russell received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Pedro A. Noguera is a Distinguished Professor of Education at UCLA. He obtained his B.A. and M.A. in Sociology from Brown University and received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He has won numerous awards and has published over 200 articles.

This article is relevant to our research question because it focuses on the achievement and discipline gap of racial and ethnic groups in the United States and explains how the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of minorities may contribute to lagging achievement among students of color. This article provides promising directions for gap-reducing discipline policies and examines how these policies may help to reduce the disproportionate number of minorities that find themselves incarcerated as a result of these gaps. The author summarizes key points regarding why the racial discipline gap exists and, in particular, the author mentions important concepts such as differential behaviors, differential selection, and differential processing. Differential behavior is the idea that students from certain racial and ethnic groups misbehave and/or contribute to a lack of safety in schools more than students from other racial and ethnic groups. Differential selection is the idea that incarceration rates of ethnic minority groups, when compared to rates of incarceration of whites, are higher due to patterns in police surveillance, racial profiling, or biased sentencing. Lastly, differential processing is the idea that discrimination occurs in courtrooms and correctional systems and ultimately leads to the disproportionate arrest and incarceration rate of ethnic and racial minorities.

Darrell Steffensmeier is an American criminologist and Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. Darrell obtained his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and History from St. Ambrose University and went on to receive his master’s and doctorate in Sociology from the University of Iowa. Darrell has published a multitude of studies on the relationship between societal categories including sex, race, age, and crime. Darrell is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and has published three books. Stephen Demuth is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Stephen obtained his Bachelor’s in Sociology and Psychology from Virginia Tech and received his Master’s and Doctorate in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University. Demuth’s research focuses on race and ethnicity and how these affect the likelihood of becoming involved with the criminal justice system. Stephen has been featured in a variety of publications relative to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and the criminal justice system. This article is relevant to our research question because it examines the relationships between minorities and the criminal justice system and how factors, such as race and ethnicity, can affect and shape treatment within this criminal justice system. The author summarizes study data on Pennsylvania sentencing practices to compare the sentence outcomes of black, white, and Hispanic defendants. Although white defendants experience more lenient treatment, the findings of this article are that Hispanic defendants are the subgroup most at risk to receive harsh penalty. In particular, the article addresses sentencing research which suggests that judges (and other court actors) are guided by three concerns in reaching fair and reasonable sentencing decisions. The three concerns include the offender’s blameworthiness, protection of the community, and practical implications of sentencing decision.

Bruce Western is a Professor of Sociology and Social Justice, and the Co-Director of the Justice Lab at Columbia University. Bruce obtained his bachelor’s degree in government with honors from the University of Queensland and went on to receive his master’s degree and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California. After receiving his Ph.D., Bruce taught at Princeton University and Harvard University. He is recognized as being “one of the leading academic experts on American incarceration”.

Becky Pettit is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas-Austin. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University. Pettit’s research focuses on social inequality, the effects of incarceration on families, and racial inequality. In 2012, she published a book called “Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress” and has published various articles related to the subject. This article increases our understanding of certain inequalities such as race and class, and how these inequalities in imprisonment have changed over the years. The author explains that crime among low-education men, and especially among racial and ethnic minorities, is often seen as a result of declining socioeconomic status and opportunities for unskilled workers.

Dorothy E. Roberts is a Professor of Law and Sociology as well as a Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Dorothy received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and obtained her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. Dorothy directs the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society, and has authored and co-edited nearly ten books. She focuses on the intersection between gender, race, and class in legal issues and was awarded in 2015 by the American Psychiatric Association for “providing significant benefit for the quality of life for Black people.” This article is relevant to our research question because it gives an overview of crime control and sentencing policies in the United States. It also addresses the disproportionate number of minorities and Black men incarcerated by the criminal justice system. The author outlines radical changes in crime control and sentencing policies that have led to a buildup of prison populations over the last three decades. Moreover, the article covers distinguishing features of African-American mass incarceration and outlines future steps for carrying out prison research. The article includes empirical studies related to the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system and how the war on drugs is partially responsible for disparities in Black and minority incarceration rates.

Robert J. Sampson is a Professor of Social Sciences at Harvard University and the founding Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative. Robert obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany, SUNY. Robert served as the president of the American Society of Criminology from 2011 to 2012. He has received various awards for his research and has published widely on the topics of crime, neighborhood effects, econometrics, and the social organization of cities.

Janet L. Lauritsen is a Distinguished Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri, St Louis. Janet received her Bachelor of Arts, Masters, and Doctorate in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Throughout her professional career, Janet has received numerous awards and fellowships for her research on the causes and consequences of victimization and crime. She has been cited in articles covering diverse topics, ranging from crime and gender inequality to violence against women.

This article is relevant to our research question because it discusses discrimination, and racial and ethnic disparities in crime and the criminal justice system. It also explains how the “drug war” that took place between the 1980s and 1990s exacerbated the disproportionate representation of blacks and minorities in state and federal prisons. The author argues that, although the justice system in the United States is extremely complex, available victimization data shows a fairly consistent pattern; Blacks suffer much higher rates of personal violence and homicide victimization than Whites do. Specifically, the author suggests that this issue can partly be attributed to the fact that racial and ethnic minorities tend to associate themselves with other racial and ethnic minorities who are often involved in violence and violent crimes.

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