Criminal Justice

Conservatism:

• the system prioritizes maintaining the status quo and resisting change.

• those seeking societal change were criminalized

Race and Inequality

• the US criminal justice system has perpetuated racial inequalities since its inception, rooted in slavery and segregation

• black lives matter - racial inequality

Discretion

• key players exercise significant discretion, influencing outcomes based on individual judgments

• decisions reflect personal and systematic biases.

Criminology is an object study

Study of the criminal mind

Neutral law, unequal consequences

A law may not explicitly name a racial or ethnic group

Enforcement may nonetheless be concentrated in particular communities