Race, Crime, and Social Policy: A Minority Perspective

Abstract

In 1978, LEAA sponsored a workshop on race, crime, and social policy in which research was discussed from a "minority perspective." The meaning of the term minority perspective is explicated in an assessment of contemporary criminological research. Exploration of the minority perspective serves to suggest the kind of research that is needed in the future .Within the small circle of criminologists who are also members of ethnic minorities, we talk about a &dquo;black perspective,&dquo; a &dquo;Chicano perspective,&dquo; and, more generally, a &dquo;minority perspective&dquo; with respect to the study of race, crime, and social policy. The purpose of this article is to clarify the meaning of minority perspective and, in the process, to consider the potential contribution to research from criminologists sharing such a perspective. This research is discussed as an alternative to much of the standard academic research, which has contributed to the growing political crisis in the field'; it is not my purpose here to revive the &dquo;insider-outsider&dquo; controversy of the 1970s. 2 THE METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCHIn considering what is meant by a minority perspective, Alvin Gouldner's &dquo;sociology of the underdog&dquo; is a helpful starting point. The sociology of the underdog represents a commitment to sympathy and compassion for racial minorities in this society because of the suffering that is a consequence of minority group membership. This suffering is highly visible in the rate of

The racialized patterns of police violence: The critical importance of research as praxis

“…Bonilla‐Silva (2018) described this conceptually as the white habitus. We, the authors, have encouraged the incorporation of “a minority perspective” (Takagi, 1981). Whether academia ever encounters a reckoning with its role in perpetuating or rationalizing inequalities, as a society we need to develop solutions.…”

“…In 1981, Paul Takagi (1981) advocated a “minority perspective” to provide an alternative to standard academic research. Takagi described a crisis in academia that resulted in research contributing to racially discriminatory criminal justice policies rather than acknowledging certain policies were crimes against humanity.…”

The Policing of Youth on the U.S.–Mexico Border

“…The authors of this article worked to develop a minority perspective in conducting the research and reporting the results (Phillips & Bowling, 2003; Takagi, 1981). Ethnography can benefit from the researchers’ own biographies in gaining access to communities and developing rapport (Adler & Adler, 1987; Bracey, Meier, & Rudwick, 1973; Durán, 2013; Hayano, 1979).…”

Racism, Ethnicity and Criminology. Developing Minority Perspectives

“…We have also rejected the use of the British equivalent of 'African-American perspectives' (for example African-Caribbean) as used by Young and Sulton (1996), in part because it represents an exclusive focus on one minority group. Instead we adopt Takagi's (1981) and Mann's (1993) usage of 'minority', since this recognises and emphasises the marginal and excluded status of both 2 Of course, some research necessarily requires aggregation. Large-scale surveys such as the British Crime Survey, for example, have attempted to disentangle the victimisation experiences of people of Indian origin from those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin, despite the challenge of small sub-sample sizes (see for example, Kershaw et al 2000).…”

“…Thus, processes of social and economic marginalisation not only have consequences for involvement in deviant behaviour among minority groups, but these are compounded by policing and criminal justice processes. Indeed, it is noticeable throughout the work of minority researchers in the US, that the historical experience of minorities under the law and the operation of the criminal justice system, particularly their oppressive and racist impact, clearly informs current accounts of both offending and discrimination at various stages of the criminal justice process (see for example French 1979;Takagi 1981;Mann 1993Mann , 1994Fishman 1995;Henriques 1995).…”