The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – By Michelle Alexander

Objectives: Hispanic individuals are a growing proportion of the general and carceral populations in the United States. This study examined the relationship between the type of sentences (prison, jail/probation) given to White, non-Hispanic individuals and to similarly situated individuals who were perceived to be Hispanic (any race) or perceived to be White but, based on validated estimates, self-identified as Hispanic. Hypotheses: Psychological theory indicates that, for group-based stereotypes and attitudes to impact decisions, decisionmakers must first identify and categorize target individuals as members of the relevant group. Following this theory, we predicted that individuals perceived by members of the criminal justice system to be Hispanic will be more likely to be sentenced to prison than similarly situated individuals perceived to be White. However, sentences of individuals predicted to have been misperceived as White but to self-identify as Hispanic will not differ from those of individuals accurately perceived as White. Method: We analyzed official state records of more than 220,000 unique sentencing decisions for nearly 200,000 individuals under state correctional supervision between 2005 and 2018, including demographic characteristics, statutory crime-seriousness and criminal-history scores from state sentencing guidelines, and sentencing outcomes. Results: Even after controlling for crime severity and criminal history, we found that individuals who were labeled as Hispanic in criminal justice records were nearly twice as likely to be sentenced to prison as those who were labeled as White (odds ratio [OR] = 1.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.86, 2.04]). By comparison, individuals who were labeled in criminal justice records as White but, on the basis of validated estimates, were predicted to self-identify as Hispanic had the same likelihood of being sentenced to prison as individuals who were accurately perceived to be White (OR = 1.01, 95% CI [0.94, 1.07]). Conclusions: Results suggest that ethnic stereotypes or attitudes regarding Hispanic individuals may negatively impact criminal sentencing decisions regarding people perceived as Hispanic by actors in the legal system. Public Significance StatementThe results of this study suggest that judges may be substantially more likely to sentence a person to prison rather than to jail and/or probation if they believe that the person is Hispanic as opposed to White, even in cases where a Hispanic person and a White person committed the same crime and had the same criminal record. The negative impact of perceived ethnicity on sentencing suggests that stereotypes and attitudes regarding Hispanic individuals may increase the severity of sentences, with significant negative consequences for defendants, their families, and their communities.

Section: Structural Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The United States incarcerates people of color at higher rates than it incarcerates White individuals (Alexander, 2011;King & Light, 2019;Wakefield & Uggen, 2010). Most of the literature examining the disparities and the potential factors contributing to them focuses on differences between White and Black individuals (Harris et al, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

The eye of the beholder: Increased likelihood of prison sentences for people perceived to have Hispanic ethnicity.

Girvan¹,

Marek²

2023

“…Forensic psychologists often work in settings in which POC are overrepresented. Black inmates are overrepresented in our prison populations (Carson, 2020), and POC are targets of violence perpetrated by White leaders (Alexander, 2010). These disparities impact perceptions; only one in five Black individuals believe that law enforcement applies laws equally across races, and 50% believe that law enforcement perceives all Black people as suspects, resulting in the wrong identification and subsequent arrest of innocent Black people (Jones-Brown, 2000).…”

Section: Racial Trauma As a Construct Influencing Miranda Waiversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking the next step in Miranda evaluations: Considering racial trauma and the impact of prior police contact.

Kavanaugh¹,

Pietruszka²,

Rynczak³

et al. 2023

By law, before interrrogating a suspect who is in custody, the police should inform them of their Miranda rights-the rights against self-incrimination and to an attorney. When a suspect or defendant waives their Miranda rights, a judge ultimately determines whether the waiver was legal. In making this determination, the judge employs the totality of the circumstances (TOC) analysis, which includes factors related to the individual defendant as well as the environment in which they waived their rights. Frequently, forensic psychologists evaluate a defendant to offer courts a clinical opinion about the defendant's ability to understand and appreciate their Miranda rights and to provide other TOC information. These evaluations are referred to as Miranda evaluations. Using Miranda evaluations as an illustration, this article describes how the critical, yet often overlooked, concepts of racial trauma and vicarious and direct prior police contacts should routinely be considered as part of forensic evaluations. After providing a succinct overview of the relevant legal issues related to Miranda rights and of the existing guidelines for conducting Miranda evaluations, we discuss the psychological impact of racial trauma and prior vicarious and direct police contacts. We provide case examples to illustrate how evaluators can consider the impact of racial trauma and prior police contact when conducting Miranda evaluations. This article serves as a practical guide for understanding how and why-in the context of their lived experiences-suspects may waive their Miranda rights. Finally, we recommend how to improve policy and research to better capture issues related to racial trauma and prior police contacts. Public Significance StatementThe work of forensic psychologists can help shape policy and law at local and national levels. Using Miranda evaluations as an example, we demonstrate how forensic psychologists can modify their existing practices to ensure their work more accurately reflects the lived experiences of the people they evaluate and research.

“…For example, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that all persons born in the United States are citizens regardless of race or color, thereby granting Black Americans full citizenship. As a result, Black Americans obtained better access to education, demonstrated their right to vote, and held political office (Alexander, 2010;Hinton & Cook, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Segregation laws were passed, which caused racial tension between low socioeconomic status White Americans and POC. In addition, there was a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, who terrorized Black Americans through extreme forms of violence-such as bombing Black homes, businesses, and churches; lynching; and burning crosses-in attempts to instill fear and submission (Alexander, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Adapting assessment processes to consider cultural mistrust in forensic practices: An example with the MMPI instruments.

Dixon¹,

Caddell²,

Alexander³

et al. 2023

Objective: Our first goal in this study was to identify cultural mistrust critical items (CMCIs) on two versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-the MMPI-Second Edition-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and MMPI-Third Edition (MMPI-3)-that might be endorsed by people of color because of cultural mistrust rather than clinical paranoia. Our second goal was to determine whether CMCIs and items on the MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3 Ideas of Persecution scale (Restructured Clinical Scale 6 [RC6]) were endorsed at different rates across cultural groups in a nonclinical college sample and a forensic inpatient sample. Hypotheses: Our primary hypothesis was that expert raters would reliably identify a subset of MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3 items as reflective of cultural mistrust. Black college students would endorse the highest level of CMCIs, followed by Latina/o students, and then White students. We hypothesized that the same pattern of findings would occur in forensic inpatients but that the differences would be attenuated because of the high base rate of psychiatric symptomatology and the nature of the forensic assessment setting. Method: Three Black female and three Black male psychologists rated the degree to which each item on the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-3 reflected cultural mistrust. Black (n = 90), Latina/o (n = 83), and White (n = 100) college students were compared on CMCIs and on MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3 RC6 item endorsement. The same comparisons were made among Black (n = 221), Latina/o (n = 142), and White (n = 483) forensic inpatients who completed the MMPI-2-RF. Results: Black college students endorsed the highest levels of cultural mistrust, followed by Latina/o students, and then White students, resulting in small-to-medium effect sizes (Hedges's gs = 0.14-0.52). Although we observed some item-level differences in forensic patients, the overall pattern of item endorsement did not significantly differ in this group. Conclusions: There are multiple reasons for the reporting of clinical paranoia and cultural mistrust in forensic assessment. Public Significance StatementCultural mistrust is an adaptive response to racial oppression and discrimination faced by people of color (POC) in the United States but can be misinterpreted as clinical paranoia. In the present study, we outlined a method for identifying items on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) instruments to help differentiate cultural mistrust from clinical paranoia, which will assist forensic psychologists with accurately assessing POC. Overall, the findings from the present study suggest that POC are, in fact, more likely to endorse items on the MMPI instruments that are intended to measure clinical paranoia and that forensic practitioners should assess for cultural mistrust.