Racial Conflict

Racial conflict is defined as societal controversies related to variances in ethnic, cultural, or national affiliation. Specifically, racial conflict is the result of one dominant culture's control of differing cultures through economics, politics, social policy, and law. In the U.S. juvenile and criminal justice systems, the term racial conflict can be used to refer to discriminatory practices by those who work in the juvenile and criminal justice systems against minority persons. Recent literature expanding the racial conflict concern to include U.S. policy, murder as the result of identity internalizations, and merchant-consumer relationships is not discussed here. Instead, this entry examines the literature depicting racial conflict as a systemic and controversial topic in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. In addition, the relationship between racial conflict and a maintained societal ideology is examined.

Historical accounts of violent racial conflict have existed since before the 1800s and up to the present day. Likewise, the relationship between racial conflict, crime, and minority processing has been examined. In addition to its explaining why some people commit crime, racial conflict has also been linked to disparate decision-making practices at both the arrest and the punishment stages for ethnic minorities. Specifically, African American males represent the most prevalent minority group at each of these stages. Empirical findings show that disproportionate minority confinement exists partly as the result of police discretion to arrest. Accordingly, minorities, particularly African Americans, find themselves at a disadvantage in the criminal justice system.

Recent accounts of racial conflict in the criminal justice system came to the fore during the 1992 riots after a verdict of not guilty was returned for the officers involved in the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, California. More recently, in 2005, racial conflict was linked to the government's response and policies after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. Specifically, victims of this natural disaster were outraged at the lack of governmental support and the assignment of the label “refugee” to American survivors in this largely minority populated area. To some, the use of the term refugee was symbolic of the perception that the survivors were “outsiders” to begin with. This was seized on by the national media, and the survivors were quickly recast as “evacuees.”

Similar to disparities in the adult justice system, minority disparities in the juvenile justice system exist. Specifically, African American youth, similar to their adult counterparts, are disproportionately represented throughout the system. On one hand, criminologists argue that ethnic and racial minorities commit more crimes than their White counterparts and thereby have greater representation in the system. On the other hand, criminologists and sociologists argue that racial conflict in American society acts interchangeably with the law as a method to control minority power. Thus, as a result, disparities are found in arrest, charge, and confinement of African American youth when compared to White youth who commit the same [Page 690]serious and violent criminal acts. The larger implication here is consistent with the belief that racial conflict is supported and maintained by actors in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

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