Criminal justice involves partisan interests, political pressure, and compromise in ways that some
people say are incompatible with science. These opponents would argue that politics distorts
scientific inquiry, especially when the results of science are politically unpopular. Take for
example, the complicated relationship between crime and incarceration. For at least the past
three decades, the war on crime (and the war on drugs and, more recently, the war on terror) have
involved a get-tough orientation to addressing the problem of crime. Driven in part by increasing
crime rates and in part by political and practical expediency, current strategies for addressing the
problem of crime have led to unprecedented growth in the size of prison populations.
Incarceration has, in some respects, been advanced as the one-size-fits-all answer to the problem
of crime. Social science evidence suggests, however, that incarceration is at best limited in its
ability to prevent or control crime and in some important ways problematic for crime prevention.
Yet criminological research highlighting the limited impact of prison expansion policies is
politically unpopular because politicians seeking to address the concerns of their constituents see
few other politically viable options.
Racism today is neither as blatant as it once was—blacks and whites do not use separate
bathrooms or drinking fountains—nor is it only a black-and-white issue. But it has taken other more
subtle forms, such as the high concentration of liquor stores in predominantly black urban areas
or the high concentration of Latino immigrants in low-wage jobs. Claims of color blindness make
these more subtle forms of racism di cult to acknowledge and, therefore, difficult to addressffi
productivity1
Majority of African American adults are under correctional control today in prison, on probation
or parole, then were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. In 2007 more black
men were disenfranchised than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified
prohibiting laws that explicitly deny that the right to vote based on race. During the Jim Crow
era, African American continued to be denied access to the ballot through poll taxes and literacy
tests. Those laws have accomplished what poll taxes and literacy tests ultimately could not. In
many large urban areas in the United States, most working-age Africans American men have
criminal records, in fact, it was reported in 2002 that, in the Chicago area, if you consider
prisoners, the figure is nearly 80%2.
Romans 13:1-7: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists
the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on
themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil”3.
1 Fischer, Kahlib J. “Presentation: Race, Criminal Justice & Legal Dimensions of Public Policy.” Liberty University, July 12.
Video of lecture. https://learn.liberty.edu.
2 The New Jim Crow Symposium: Mass Incarceration: Causes, Consequences, and Exit Strategies
Alexander, Michelle Page 7
3 D. Key Biblical Passages on Civil Government: Romans 13:1-7, II Peter 2:13-17, Titus 3:1
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