**BRIEF OVERVIEW**
--Know the difference between race/ethnicity and the problems of
defining/classifying discussed in the first few pages of the book
--know key terms, such as disparity and discrimination defined in the
margins of the chapter
Some factoids:
--**ROUGHLY** 39 percent of the US prison population Black,
--**ROUGHLY** 32 percent of the US prison population Black,
**Roughly** 23 percent Hispanic
--Blacks were almost three times more likely than Hispanics and five times
more likely than whites to be in JAIL.
--Our text tells us that nearly ten percent of African American
children have fathers in jail compared with about 3.5 percent
white and hispanic
The key question for social scientists: Why does their appear to be
a disproportionate number of certain ethnical/racial groups in prison?
Which is the key factor: Class or race?
Key areas of potential discrimination as "independent variables":
to explain racial disparity in prisons:
--differential crime rates
--Racism in the criminal justice system or in society
--police bias/profiling
--prosecution decisions
--sentencing
Be able to answer the question addressed at the end of the chapter and
defend your position: What role does racism play in corrections?
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