Vol. 7 No. 1 (January 1997) pp. 21-23.

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM By Marvin D. Free, Jr. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 251 pp.

Reviewed by Barbara Luck Graham, Department of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
 

In the American criminal justice system, the reality is that race continues to be an important variable in our quest for a complete understanding of all aspects of the system. Students and scholars alike are inundated with studies that examine the effects of race in the criminal justice system--sometimes with persuasive, mixed, inconclusive results or no impact at all. How are we to make sense of this research? Professor Marvin D. Free, Jr. has written a book to satisfactorily explain "the intricate problem between race and criminal justice" (p. xvii). Unfortunately, the author stops there in his explication of his thesis. He does however justify his selection of African Americans as the main target group of study based on their minority group status and their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.

The book is well placed in undergraduate criminal justice and criminology courses as a stand alone text or as a supplemental text. Undergraduates should find most of the material in this book accessible, for Professor Free has minimized the use of jargon in his discussions. Besides being a good undergraduate text, I think the book is an excellent reference source for scholars unfamiliar with the literature on race and the criminal justice system.

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM breaks no new ground. Professor Free does not offer any new data or methodological insights in exploring the relationship between race and criminal justice. Instead, he attacks the problem methodologically by examining extant research on various aspects of race and criminal justice. He critically evaluates the merits and shortcomings of the research. He then sets out to explore the relationship between race and the criminal justice system in six chapters. In Chapter 1, "Race and Criminal Justice," Professor Free introduces the problem by presenting an examination of various aspects of race and crime; such as measures of race and crime, racial differences in arrests, sentencing, victims of crime, juveniles, and underrepresentation in the administration of justice. He convincingly demonstrates the nature of the severity, magnitude and the potential obstacles to policy solutions in confronting racial issues in the administration of justice.

The heart of the discussion is set out in chapters 2-7. Professor Free balances his discussion between actors and processes in the criminal justice system. Chapter 2, "The Black Experience," offers a brief glimpse into the historical context of blacks’ relationship to the criminal justice system since their arrival in the United States. The author is to be commended for his reliance upon the proper historical context in approaching the subject matter because many students are simply uninformed about the long-term discriminatory treatment of blacks in the administration of justice.

Chapter 3, "Theoretical Explanations of African American Involvement in Crime," is aimed toward the more sophisticated reader of criminology studies. Here, Professor Free critiques the leading sociological, psychological, biological and minority theories of crime. In the conclusion to this chapter, Professor Free appears to agree with the side of minority theorists in their criticisms of mainstream criminological theories. He points out that "future theoretical explanations of African American crime should ideally explain both the distribution of crime (epidemiology) and why a specific individual engages in criminal behavior (etiology)" (p. 71). I think that readers will yearn for additional elaboration on this interesting theoretical perspective.

Chapter 4, "African Americans, the Police, and the Judicial System," examines various components of the criminal justice system and how they contribute to racial disparities. He focuses on the arrests of adults and juveniles, presentencing decisions and sentencing decisions. The death penalty controversy is also examined in this chapter.

In Chapter 5, "Incarcerated African Americans," Professor Free examines explanations of racial disparity in prisons and juvenile correctional facilities. Aspects of prison life are explored. Professor Free also devotes attention to African American women in prison.

In Chapter 6, "African Americans as Social Control Agents," Professor Free argues that since the vast majority of African Americans are not involved in criminal actions, attention must be placed on minority representation in the judicial system. Here, he examines whether African American police, correctional officers, judges and jurors make a difference in the criminal justice system. According to Professor Free’s findings, underrepresentation of African American social control agents is prevalent.

In Chapter 7, "The Future of Race and Criminal Justice," Professor Free evaluates the state of current research on race and criminal justice. He then turns his attention to the necessity for greater involvement of African Americans in the criminal justice system. Professor Free provides additional thoughts in the Epilogue where he addresses the issue of racial disparity in criminal justice processing. For Professor Free, policy solutions cannot be ignored in the attempt to eradicate existing racial disparity in the criminal justice system. He argues that reducing poverty, buttressing the impoverished status of the female-headed family and better, safer public housing must be addressed. He also focuses on changes in the criminal justice system: increased African American representation in police departments, the judiciary and the jury system; decriminalization of certain offenses (drug offenses, e.g.) and alternatives to incarceration.

After reading this work, it is likely that readers will come away with mixed feelings about the issue of race and the criminal justice system. On one hand, Professor Free has succeeded in writing a highly readable and extremely well-researched book on race and criminal justice. I think this book is indispensable to students and scholars of criminal justice and criminology because of the manner in which Professor Free has culled the literature and provided synopsis and evaluation of a considerable body of research. On the other hand, Professor Free’s analysis suggests that there is still a lack of a consensus on the effects of race in the criminal justice system. Flawed theoretical assumptions and methodological problems persist in this literature. Professor Free raises more questions than he answers in his book. However, he provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the major issues affecting the criminal justice system and African Americans. In this
sense, I would recommend his book as an excellent point of departure for those students and scholars alike interested in studying the effects of race in the criminal justice system.


Copyright 1997