Safety management class

UST 481/581

Public Safety &

Justice Management

� The first Civil Rights legislation was enacted at the end of the Civil War in 1865

� The modern Civil Rights Movement culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act which were intended to dismantle legal segregation and ensure full citizenship rights for African Americans

� By the mid 1960s civil rights and political leaders realized that legislation alone would not achieve the desired racial equality

� In 1965 calling for equality “as a fact and a result” rather than as merely a right or in theory, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson signed Exec. Order 11246 requiring all federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

� Race is a social construct: racial categories and the meaning of race are given concrete expression by the specific social relations and historical context in which they are embedded (Omi and Winant, 1986)

� Dominant groups in society can impose racial/ethnic labels on other groups e.g. the “one drop” rule in relation to persons of African descent in America

� Marvin Harris uses the principle of “hypo-descent” to describe the American use of the concept of race and the “one drop” rule � “In the United States, the mechanism employed is the rule of hypo-

descent. This descent rule requires Americans to believe that anyone who is known to have had a Negro ancestor is a Negro. We admit nothing in between….Hypo-descent means affiliation with the subordinate rather the superordinate group in order to avoid the ambiguity of intermediate identity…The rule of hypo-descent is, therefore, an invention which we in the United States have made in order to keep biological facts from intruding into our collective racist fantasies” (M. Harris, 1964).

� Ethnicity refers to cultural differences among groups such as language, religion, customs, and family patterns

� Ethnicity is often expressed in terms of a group’s country of origin e.g. Polish American, Irish American, Italian American etc.

� The term “minority” is used to refer to racial/ethnic groups that have experienced discriminatory treatment from other groups in society; the term “people of color” is also used to describe nonwhite racial/ethnic minority groups

� Prejudice: a positive or negative attitude, judgment, or feeling about a person that is generalized from attitudes or beliefs held about the group to which the person belongs (Jones, 1972)

� Discrimination: the behavioral manifestation of prejudice; actions designed to maintain own- group characteristics and favored position at the expense of members of the comparison group

� Racism includes the negative-attitude view of prejudice but also has three other aspects: � It assumes that race is a biological concept (race is a social construct) � The essential premise of the superiority of one’s own race � It rationalizes the institutional and cultural practices that formalize the

hierarchical domination of one racial group over another

� Individual Racism: is closest to race prejudice and suggests a belief in the superiority of one’s own race over another and in the behavioral enactments that maintain those superior and inferior positions

� Institutional Racism: the institutional extension of individual racist beliefs, consisting primarily of using and manipulating duly constituted institutions to maintain a racist advantage over others; and the byproduct of certain institutional practices that operate to restrict– on a racial basis– the choices, rights, mobility, and access of groups of individuals

� Structural discrimination is unintentional social forces or policies that negatively impact minorities regardless of intent � Race-conscious intentionality (i.e., a conscious intention to affect what happens

to a person on the basis of race) is not a prerequisite for institutional racism � An ostensibly race-neutral rule or policy can be discriminatory if it

systematically disadvantages persons based on race/ethnicity etc.

� 1 of 3 pillars of public administration along with efficiency & economy

� Social Equity: ethical & equitable treatment of citizens by administrators; many complex issues associated with fairness, justice, & equality in public administration

� The Office of Management and Budget issued Statistical Directive 15 in 1977 requiring federal agencies to classify people as white, black, American Indian, Asian, or Pacific Islander

� U.S. Census population data: � Non-Hispanic whites 63.4% � Hispanics 16.7% � Blacks 13.1% � Asian/Pacific Islanders 5% � Native American/Alaska Natives 1.2% � Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders 0.2%

� Respondents were able to identify multiple racial/ethnic groups as of 2000 Census

� Among most segregated U.S. cities: Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland (6th), St. Louis, & Newark

� Among most integrated U.S. cities: Orange Cty,. CA., San Jose, Norfolk, Tampa, & San Diego

� 95% Asians, 91% Latinos, 87% blacks, 78% whites live in metropolitan areas

� 68% blacks, 61% Latinos, & 57% whites prefer to live in mixed neighborhoods

� Wealth (total assets) or annual income typically defines the hierarchical social class structure in the U.S. (lower, middle, & upper class) � The top 1% and bottom 90% of American families each own about 1/3

of all wealth � The top 20% earns 46% of all income � Bottom 20% earns about 4% of all income

� While there is some overlap between classes, the U.S. social class structure is as follows: � 1-2% of U.S. adults own large-scale means of production � 6-6.5% are in the employer/ownership class � 25-30% are of the professional/managerial class (e.g. CEOs, doctors,

politicians) � 55-60% of adults comprise the working class which includes the

working poor & underemployed � Another 5-5.5% consisting of the permanently unemployed constitute

a “surplus population”

� The sociological imagination helps us to understand how our personal or private troubles are related to public issues (C. Wright Mills, 1959)

� It helps make us aware of the larger historical and social forces that impact and circumscribe our lives i.e. the choices and opportunities that are available to individuals

� The social structure is the pattern of social interaction and relations that endure over time and define the expected, taken-for- granted routines of our daily lives

� Social structure is dependent on and reproduced through the social actions of individuals in certain situations

� Social relations of inequality and power based primarily on race, ethnicity, and class are essential elements of the social structure

� The criminal justice system is comprised of 3 general areas: � The police, courts, and corrections

� Herbert Park (1964) identified two models of criminal justice: � The crime control model primarily focuses on the

repression of criminal conduct

� The due process model erects legal barriers making it more difficult to hastily move accused through the criminal justice system, protecting against arbitrary and abusive governmental authority

� There are more than 17,000 police departments in the U.S. today � Policing is a civilian function separate from the legislative and

judicial branches of government � American Colonial policing system based on early-English system

of constables/watchmen used to maintain law and order � Social problems associated with urbanization/industrialization

lead to establishment of 1st paid police force in London in 1829 � 19th Century formal police forces emerged in U.S. cities

� Police served economic interest of elites by quelling labor unrest � In the South police evolved from slave patrols used to repress slave

revolts and capture runaways � 1837 Charleston’s 100-member slave patrol was largest enforcement

unit in U.S. � New York City established the first modern municipal police force in

the U.S. in 1853

� Early 19th Century police were not highly respected and firearms weren’t standard issue until late 1800s

� Police in big cities were part of the political machine with positions often influenced by political connections � Police primarily were from the same working-class

background as those they were charged to control

� Pay was twice that of typical workers thus allowing officers to move to better neighborhoods and identify more with the power elite

� August Vollmer, nationally recognized chief, professionalized policing through higher educational requirements, standardized entrance exams, improved training, and use of scientific technology in investigations

� 1931 Wickersham Commission cited use of physical coercion or “3rd degree” in interrogations as further need for reform in policing

� By 1960s professional model of well-trained, highly disciplined, crime-fighting police force based impart on the model of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI had taken root

� More aggressive policing lead to increased usage of stop-and- search patrols, particularly in African American communities, leading to an erosion of police-community relations

� Further reforms called for increased hiring of minority officers, higher educational requirements, emphasis on police-community relations, and civilian oversight of police misconduct

� 1st black officer hired by New Orleans in 1805 to apprehend runaway slaves � Significant gains not made until 1960s as result of Civil Rights

Movement � 1990s African-Americans were 11% of officers, almost proportional

share of U.S. population � Majority found in large cities and South � Still underrepresented within local labor pools

� Results of studies on treatment of black officers in departments have been mixed � NYPD study over 50% reported being treated equal to whites � Other studies cite complaints of undeserved negative job evaluations,

fewer preferable assignments, less colleague support, assignment only to minority neighborhoods, and segregation from white officers on and off duty

� Black male officers more accepted than female officers because not a threat to male mystic

� First woman officer sworn in in LAPD in 1910 � 1972 Equal Opportunity Act expanded 1964 Civil Rights Act to local

police departments and brought about significant change in patrol work and promotions for women and minorities in law enforcement

� Crime Control Act (1973) required departments with 50> employees receiving $25,000> in federal grants to provide equal employment programs for women or lose funding

� Height and weight, and physical strength tests that excluded women were revised

� Women were still less than 10% of all officers as of the 1990s � “Few occupations have resisted integration of women as vigorously as

policing” (threaten male mystic of policing) � Women often assigned dangerous foot patrols alone, are given lower

job performance evaluations, & subjected to sexual harassment � Research found women less proficient in firearm use and made fewer

arrests, yet received fewer citizen complaints and exhibited better interpersonal skills in deescalating conflicts

� Berger, R., Free, M. D. Jr., & Searles, P. (2001) Crime, Justice, and Society. Boston: McGraw-Hill

� Jones, J. M. (1972). Prejudice and racism.

Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.

� Steinberg, S. (2000). Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Issues and Debates. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers.

� U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2010.