About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 Race & Just. 3 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/rcjstc7 and id is 1 raw text is: Editorial Race and justice 2017, Vol. 7(I) 3-6 Editorial Introduction to ©@ The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Pe SDOI: 10. 1177/2153368716680870 and Courts journals.sagepub.com/home/raj OSAGE jacinta M. Gau, (Coeditor in Chief) University of Central Florida The January 2017 issue of Race and Justice: An International Journal (RAJ) is noteworthy in two respects. First, it marks the beginning of RAls seventh year of being a premier outlet for research examining the intersection of race and ethnicity with crime and justice system outcomes. RAJ encourages a diversity of topics, including critical examinations of race/ethnicity and the criminal justice system, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor. We look forward to continuing our mission in 2017 and beyond. Second, this is a special issue focusing on race and court processes and outcomes. Racial disparity and discrimination pervade the justice system, but aside from a select few egregious examples, it is difficult to point a finger at any single, significant source of racially disparate outcomes. The accumulative nature of racial disparity and dis- crimination highlights the importance of courts in the criminal justice process. It is here that a suspect becomes a defendant, a defendant becomes an offender, and a person's life is forever changed by factors largely beyond his or her control. The four articles constituting this special issue tap into topics pertaining to out- comes and processes. In Examining the Sources of Racial Bias in Potentially Capital Cases: A Case Study of Police and Prosecutorial Discretion, Nick Petersen extends the discussion of racial disparities and discrimination in capital sentencing to consider the potential influence of victim race on homicide clearance probabilities. Petersen's analysis of incident-level homicide arrest and charging data in Los Angeles County, CA, reveals that those who kill Latinos are less likely to be arrested than those who kill Whites, although there is no such effect for killers of Black victims. Racial dyad interaction terms in analyses of prosecutorial charging decisions show that, compared to Whites accused of killing Whites, Blacks charged with killing Blacks or Latinos and Latinos charged with the murder of other Latinos are significantly less likely to face charges that could result in the death penalty. Defendants of all races face the highest probability of death-eligible charges when the victim is White. Petersen's findings highlight an intriguing feature of the death penalty: Death penalty prosecutions are an instance where it is not just harshness but leniency that can be a sign of racial discrimination. Prosecutors' stronger tendency to proceed with capital charges when victims are White sends a message about the social valuation of

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most