Institutional discrimination

• Characteristics of institutional discrimination– Mostly subtle and complex-occurs in daily operations of

institutions=“woodwork racism”• How do schools, health care companies, the CJS, banks, and workplaces

treat some groups unfairly?

– Woven into the fabric of society-rarely questioned

– Often unintentional yet evident

– Covert acts committed collectively against an entire group.• When enough individuals commit acts of discrimination it becomes

institutionalized

Institutional discrimination

• “Despite the fact that civil rights laws and cultural beliefs do not condone discrimination, and have created punishments for such acts, informal acts of discrimination may be so widespread that discrimination becomes institutionalized, even in the face of formal prohibition” (Aguirre and Turner, 2013)– Can occur amongst real estate agents, loan officers, police officers,

teachers, politicians, etc

– If individual acts of discrimination is widespread, these institutions discriminate on a wide scale and we see evidence of unequal treatment of some minority groups such as high rates of relative and absolute deprivation, poverty, incarceration, unfair hiring in jobs, segregation in housing, and unequal schooling.

Example #1-employment

• Discrimination in hiring/job seeking

– Does your name influence getting an interview or how seriously your resume will be taken?• Emily Walsh vs, Lakisha Washington• Greg baker vs Jamal Jones

– Who is more likely to get hired, a black male with No felony record, or a white male with a felony record?• Pg 84-85 of your text

Example #2-housing• Studies by National Fair Housing Alliance and Department of

Housing and Urban Development found that discriminatory housing practices are still routine:-Redlining and racial steering

Redlining: mortgage companies deny loans for houses in minority neighborhoods.

Racial steering: realtors discourage minorities from moving into certain neighborhoods.Home mortgage and car loans– Thomas and Passell found that controlling for income and credit scores, Latinos and African

Americans were 60% more likely to be rejected for loans than whites* Studies document that black and Hispanic homebuyers will pay higher interest rates than whites

with similar credit ratings

• These practices maintain segregation-Who is doing the discriminating? Arguably rental agents, landlords, homebuyers themselves, loan officers. When widespread, results in institutionalized discrimination

Example #3-Schooling• American schools are more racially segregated than ever before-linked

to segregation in housing• The majority of funding for public schools come from local tax dollars,

as a result: – Racial Minorities are disproportionately represented in low-income

neighborhoods, where schools and teachers are underfunded.– Impoverished schools offer fewer college prep and AP courses– Poor black and Latino students are more likely to be tracked into lower

performing classes, even when they have similar grade to whites– A recent study shows that teachers give higher grades to students of

their own race (Ouazad 2008)• 70% of teachers in American classrooms are white, middle class, and female

• Think about the examples of Francisco and Daisy in the film: Waiting for Superman

Example 4-The criminal justice system

• “Nowhere are racial disparities greater than in the criminal justice system” (Markus and Moya 2010)

– Scholarly studies consistently show that racial minorities are more likely to be stopped, interrogated, arrested, prosecuted, and given harsh sentences (including the death penalty)• Closely intertwined with social class issues

– The prison population has increased fivefold since 1980, and most of those incarcerated are black and Latino men• Black and Latinos make up 28% of U.S. population, but 66% of the prison

population• Hispanic men are 3x, and black men 8x, as likely as white men to be in prison

Crime and the Criminal Justice System

• The Criminal Justice System– Prisons

• Population steadily increasing

• U.S. has highest incarceration rate in world

– Why?

The American Punishment Frenzy

• Punitive policies• Imprisonment of non-violent offenders• 1980’s-The drug war– Mandatory minimums– Three strikes laws– Plea bargains

• In 2007, the United States had the highest incarceration rate in the world

• Over 7 million people in prison, jail, or under correctional supervision

Race and the cjs

• The “War on Drugs” has wreaked havoc on poor communities of color– Despite the fact that whites are just as and if not

more likely to use drugs as people of color, policing of drug behavior primarily happens in poor-non-white communities-fed the prison boom

– Michelle Alexander-The New Jim Crow

Race and the cjs• Racial profiling- African Americans and Latinos are more likely to report

be stopped, questioned and frisked without due process than whites-– When stopped in cars, more likely to have car searched, be fined, and be

arrested– According to the bureau of justice, police are more likely to use force on Black

and Hispanic citizens• Unjust sentencing

– Poor people of color experience disadvantages in defending themselves in court of law

– Harsh sentencing for drugs associated with lower income communities of color-Crack Cocaine• 5 grams of Crack=minimum 5 years in prison• 500 grams of powdered cocaine =5 years; Anything less than 500 grams is a maximum 1

year sentence

• Many see this disparity as blatant institutionalized racism

• Unjust sentencing and the death penalty– Controlling for other factors, blacks are more likely

than whites to be sentenced to death for capital offenses

– People accused of killing whites are four times more likely to be sentenced to death than people accused of killing blacks

Film: The House I Live In

“The War on drugs has never been about drugs”

• How have ideas, beliefs, and policies concerning crime and deviance related to drug use and abuse been constructed in ways that benefit individuals in positions of power?– Politicians– The elite– Dominant vs. minority groups– Law enforcement agencies– Upper class vs. lower class– White collar criminals vs. street criminals

• Reframes the discussion. – The drug war is a social problem itself

The American punishment frenzy

• The Prison Industrial Complex– Correctional expansion continues not because it

decreases crime and creates a safer public, but because it serves the interest of certain powerful groups that benefit from tough on crime policies and continue to push for punitive policies through lobbying political leaders and running million dollar ad campaigns• Private prison corporations• Prison guards Union• Prison labor benefits government, corporations and a variety

of businesses with vested interests in correctional expansion

• Is it right that corporations make profit on keeping bodies in cells and lobbying congress to maintain “tough on crime” strategies??