Racial Threat Theory: Assessing the Evidence, Requesting Redesign
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Cindy Brooks Dollar, Assistant Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: Racial threat theory was developed as a way to explain how population composition influences discriminatory social control practices and has become one of the most acknowledged frameworks for explaining racial disparity in criminal justice outcomes. This paper provides a thorough review of racial threat theory and empirical assessments of the theory and demonstrates that while scholars often cite inconsistent support for the theory, empirical discrepancies may be due to insufficient attention to the conceptual complexity of racial threat. I organize and present the following review around 4 forms of state-sanctioned control mechanisms: police expenditures, arrests, sentencing, and capital punishment. Arguing that the pervasiveness of racialization in state controls warrants continued inquiry, I provide suggestions for future scholarship that will help us develop enhanced understanding of how racial threat may be operating.
Racial Threat Theory: Assessing the Evidence, Requesting Redesign
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Created on 10/23/2014
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Journal of Criminology
- Language: English
- Date: 2014
- Keywords
- Racial Threat Theory, Criminal Justice, Social Control Practices