CRM J 205 1st Edition Exam 2 Study Guide Lectures 12 21 EXAM 2 QUESTION 2 This is the actual question that will need to be answered on the exam There are two parts to this question Be certain that you carefully read each question and then formulate your response accordingly First research on police and prosecutors reveals that uniformly they disagree that discrimination occurs in their agency and office Do you agree Then what explains the disproportionate minority contact that occurs and the disparate treatment within the prosecutor s office In answering this question apply no less than five specific points from the Anderson text Code of the Street number them and using contextual examples from the video Law and Disorder in Philadelphia explain how disparities and inequalities are perpetuated between and within the Criminal Justice Institutions of the Police and Courts and that of the Community Lecture 12 21 I Policing Challenges a New Immigrant Communities b Reluctance to report crime c Fear of police d Language mirroring within the servicing population 1 Structure 2 Behavior 3 Basic underlying assumption II Procedural Justice a Administered by justice officials III Policing Minority Communities a Racial and ethnic minorities not homogeneous b Police may fear minorities c Minorities may try to be extra friendly to avoid getting shot 1 How is this perceived by those around them 2 Despite issues are more likely to report crimes IV Police Subculture a Reflect working class level b Working class personality 1 Symbolic assailant 2 Police see themselves as unappreciated minority V Community Policing a Barley and Shearing 1996 b O Conner 2010 c Loader and Walker 2007 VI The Court Process a Disparity in the process b Key Points 1 Police 2 Courts 3 Corrections c Symbolic Assailant 1 May commit crime b c of drugs 2 May commit crime to obtain drugs 3 Focus on the precursors criminalize possession d Sterilization program e Authoritarian Function VII Decisions Regarding Counsel and Bail a Bail Reform b Political Wind Shifts c Bail Research d Discrimination Notes from the Professor As we start the exam week I want to reflect on the broader points we have covered I start with the police Police are people who are influenced by the nature of the profession and outside pressures placed on them For example racial profiling becomes an acceptable practice if it yields results regardless of how successful those rates are look at the NYPD Stop and Frisk report in the Prezi The nature of the profession the interactions the social isolation of the police the historical issues all of these come together as well as numerous other issues that we discussed to inform police practice Klockers noted that the police focus on the poor and racial profiling was an outcome of their focus on the poor which was driven not by race but by the need to meet the performance measurements to which they were held If using racial profiling via pretextual stops allows for increased contact with the group most likely to be criminal this was influenced by perception according to the police that is what they will do Does this mean everyone who is a person of color is a criminal or involved in crime absolutely not However when you address the reality of police work the overt focus on measureable performance via arrests and clearance rates and a community more punitive results in a practice that we find deplorable but that police see as a commonsense approach to a problem Many of those on the outside look at Stop and Frisk and say It is only 10 minutes if you have nothing to hide why complain It is a logical rationalization from a group that will likely never experience the policy Corruption and misconduct can then become a means to address limitation at a personal or organizational level Organizationally if an officer is limited in what they believe ought to be done they will innovate to accomplish their task To connect with points to Anderson consider the following The challenge to practitioners is first recognizing that there is a culture within a culture within a culture which is to say that what is often referred to as isolated or small subcultures within segments of the population is not an adequate representation when describing the code of the street This culture spans generations and geographies An elderly impoverished black man in the ghetto of Memphis can recognize the same challenges the same dangers and even the same cultural antecedents as the poor urban nineteen year old black male from Philadelphia The Hispanic female living in Arizona may have a different experience from the Hispanic female in Washington State but the informal rules relegated to the inner city can transverse that distance The code of the street is not a code of color it is a code of class it is a code designed to minimize risk and maximize opportunity If practitioners can be taught to recognize these verbal and nonverbal cultural cues and anticipate reactions this information may prove to enable more successful interactions with these communities The challenge presented is that there is a competing culture the police culture which is unable to or possibly unwilling to concede that alternatives may exist when dealing in these impoverished areas and within these cultures The complexity that many officers have reported is never understanding if the person embraces that code For example Anderson gives the case of John Turner which reflects a person who follows the code but is also respectful of law enforcement in his early interactions For officers never being able to anticipate the way a person will interact makes officers assume the worst in a person and in the contact It is in this practice that we find so many misunderstandings and sadly in many cases overzealous assumptions about an individual These overzealous assumptions translate to all levels of the system and have been discussed in countless other works However in this work understanding the code can enable one to empathize but never truly understand with the plight of the urban poor Crime is crime and the rationales that are provided explain what brings a person to that criminal choice but the fact remains that they made the decision to commit the crime Plenty of people opt for the non criminal choice and no amount of rationalization can change the fact that a choice was made This may appear cold and callous but the notion of the self fulfilling prophecy is ever apparent in the ethnography