Testing a Model of Attitudes Toward Disproportionate Minority Contact

• In Event: Contemporary Issues in Disproportionate Minority Contact

Abstract

Alexander (2010: 11) explains that disproportionate minority contact (DMC) and mass incarceration together have created a “new racial caste system” in America. She argues that nothing less than a race-conscious social movement that successfully engages the public as well as criminal justice actors is necessary to dismantle this system of racial control. Unfortunately, very little is currently known about the nature or correlates of views about DMC. Scant research has examined public attitudes toward DMC. Even fewer studies have investigated such attitudes among criminal justice actors who have opportunities to sustain or reduce racial and ethnic bias in the justice system. Building on the literature on social movements and framing as well as on scholarship on modern forms of racism, we develop a theoretical model of attitudes toward DMC. We hypothesize that: 1) race influences the resonance of injustice frames about DMC, and 2) endorsement of injustice frames, in turn, shapes judgements about the consequences of DMC as well as the perceived personal and policy importance of DMC, and mediates the effects of race on these outcomes. We provide an initial test of our theory using data from a nationwide sample (N = 552) of criminal justice actors.

Authors

• Stephanie Bontrager Ryon, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

• Justin Tyler Pickett, University at Albany, SUNY