Applying Critical Race and Racial Threat Theory to Criminal Legal System Topics

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Objective: This panel will focus on critical race and racial threat theories as explanations for the relationship between race and crime. We use each theory as the theoretical framework to explore racial disparities across three sectors: traffic stops, the death penalty, and re-entry.
Methods: Each paper provides an overview of the historical, social, political, economic, and cultural contexts upon which conceptualizations of race, crime, intersectionality and justice are contingent. We then apply CRT and RTT as a theoretical framework to examine the victimization experienced by Black and Brown people as a result of interaction with the criminal legal system.
Conclusions: The combined findings from these studies help to fill knowledge gaps in the field through the application of these frameworks to the discussed topics, and contribute to the theoretical and empirical status of CRT and RTT.

Sub Unit

• Area X. Critical Criminology / 76. Critical Perspectives in Criminology

Individual Presentations

• Using Critical Race and Racial Threat Theories to Explain Systemic Disparities in Traffic Stops - Susan Nembhard, The Urban Institute / John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Understanding Capital Punishment Through the Lens of Racial Threat Theory - Nathaniel Galen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Implications of Intersectional Identities on Reentry and Reintegration Outcomes - Dominique L. Austin, CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• A Scoping Review of the Use of Critical Race Theory in Criminal justice Research - Katrina Rose Perry, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center; Frank Pezzella, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center