Family Background, Skin Color and Contact with the Criminal Justice System

• In Event: 452 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 16. Racial Identity II

Abstract

Despite sharing a family background, siblings vary from one another in variety of later life outcomes. While previous studies have examined sibling differences in criminal justice outcomes, no study has investigated whether skin color influences this relationship. Social scientists have demonstrated that skin color significantly shapes the life chances of blacks and Latinos, however very little work has been done on siblings. In this paper, I examine if skin color affects differential contact with the criminal justice system using both a nationally representative and sibling sample. My preliminary analyses suggest that men with darker skin are significantly more likely to experience a lifetime arrest than their lighter-skinned counterparts, and that this relationship remains even when looking at members of the same family.

Author

• Jessica Kizer, University of California, Irvine