Selection procedures which favor whites mean that racial minorities are significantly underrepresented on juries

A disproportionately high number of criminal defendants are black and Latino, and yet trial juries tend to be mostly white. In new research into how juries are made up in a southeastern state, Jacinta M. Gau finds that more than 60 percent of juries were majority-white. She writes that this lack of minority representation on juries is likely down to their under representation on master lists, and other barriers such as work and childcare conflicts. According to her research, blacks, Hispanics and Asians were also more likely to be struck from the jury pool for causes such as economic or family hardship. The results also indicate that although blacks are disproportionately struck peremptorily by the prosecution, whites are disproportionately struck by the defense, and the countervailing effects neutralize each other overall

For veterans in prison, longer military service is linked to lower rates of overall offending

About 13 percent of Americans have served in the military at some point in their lives, an experience which research has shown is beneficial for people’s educational and employment opportunities. Erika J. Brooke and Jacinta M. Gau explore the effects of military service on veterans’ involvement with the criminal justice system, finding that among prison inmates, military service is linked to fewer lifetime arrests, with those that served longer having fewer arrests

Why more diverse police forces may not solve the problems which exist between police and disadvantaged communities of color

In the wake of the tragedies of the past year in places such as Ferguson and New York and Baltimore where black men have been killed by police officers, many have called for reforms to the police, pushing for greater diversity among police departments. But do black officers have an advantage over white officers in building relationships with black citizens? In new research which examines police–community relations in East St. Louis, Jacinta M. Gau and Rod K. Brunson find that the black community expressed concern over under-policing, slow response times, and police misconduct both on and off duty, even though the city’s police department also reflected the population’s black majority

Unpacking Collective Efficacy: The Relationship Between Social Cohesion And Informal Social Control

The investigation of social mechanisms within social disorganization theory has led to the concept of collective efficacy. Collective efficacy has typically been measured as a composite of social cohesion and informal control; however, more work remains to be done with respect to the measurement of informal control and the modeling of the relationship between cohesion and control. The present study addresses this issue by using multiple operationalizations of informal social control. Results suggest that respondents rely upon their ability to call the police as a method, by which they exercise informal control over their area of residence. Moreover, the cohesion and control scales are distinct from one another, which adds to the literature showing that they are better treated as separate scales. In regression models, cohesion emerges as largely unrelated to individuals\u27 propensity to intervene in neighborhood problems, but enhances their perceptions of their neighbors\u27 likelihood of intervention. Future research should continue investigating different types of informal control and each one\u27s relationship with cohesion. Policy recommendations include the need for police to be prepared to respond to a variety of neighborhood problems, many of which are not directly crime related but, nonetheless, have important implications for informal crime-control efforts. © 2014 Taylor & Francis

Consent Searches As A Threat To Procedural Justice And Police Legitimacy: An Analysis Of Consent Requests During Traffic Stops

Consent searches during traffic stops offer police a way to expediently check motorists\u27 vehicles for contraband. Asking drivers for consent to search their vehicles, however, may cause them to feel negatively about the encounter and, consequently, to question officers\u27 motives for pulling them over. The present study analyzes stopped motorists\u27 reactions to consent requests; specifically, consent requests are theorized to damage these individuals\u27 perceptions of procedural justice and, moreover, of the legitimacy of the stop itself. Logistic regression analyses of a nationally representative sample support these hypotheses. Policy implications include the need for judicious use of consent searches, as they appear to be a form of procedural injustice that erodes police legitimacy. © 2012 SAGE Publications

Procedural Justice, Police Legitimacy, And Legal Cynicism: A Test For Mediation Effects

The procedural justice theory of police legitimacy has yet to fully consider the potential impacts of legal cynicism. The present study tests the hypothesis that cynicism mediates the justice–legitimacy relationship. Results of structural equation models support partial mediation. Procedural justice significantly reduced cynicism, while declines in cynicism promoted legitimacy. Cynicism should be incorporated into the theory of procedural justice and related empirical tests. Implications for police policy include the important role that process-based fairness plays in helping promote positive attitudes not merely toward police but toward society in general

A Jury Of Whose Peers? The Impact Of Selection Procedures On Racial Composition And The Prevalence Of Majority-White Juries

Racially mixed criminal juries deliberate better and are viewed by the public as more legitimate than all-white and mostly-white juries. The constitution forbids racial discrimination in jury selection, and courts favor racially heterogeneous jury venires. Despite this, racial minorities continue to be under-represented on criminal juries. Limited information exists about the specific sources of these disparities and the frequency of all-white and mostly-white juries. This study compares the racial diversity of venires to that of panels, and both to the general population, to identify the steps in the jury-selection process that appear to be most strongly implicated in the loss of minorities. Additionally, the present analyses examine the for-cause and peremptory-challenge removals of jurors of different races. Finally, this study investigates the prevalence of all-white and mostly-white juries. The results have implications for enhancing the representation of minorities on both venires and panels