George S. Bridges

Crime, Social Structure and Criminal Punishment: White and Nonwhite Rates of Imprisonment

Durkheimian, Marxist, and Weberian theories provide contrasting views of the influences of the social structure of areas and communities on law and the legal process. In light of these theories, we examine how various aspects of community social structure differentially affect criminal punishments administered to whites and nonwhites. Using county-level data from the state of Washington, we regress white and nonwhite rates of imprisonment on measures of crime and arrest rates, county social structure, and court workload. This analysis indicates that nonwhites—but not whites—are particularly likely to be sentenced to prison in urbanized counties and in counties with relatively large minority populations. We conclude by presenting material from interviews with justice officials which sheds light on the perceptual and political processes that link structural conditions to patterns of criminal punishment.

Analytical and Aggregation Biases in Analyses of Imprisonment: Reconciling Discrepancies in Studies of Racial Disparity

The literature on racial disparities in criminal justice processing is unclear about whether Black defendants are treated differently from White defendants. Although some studies find no difference in treatment, others report that Blacks are treated significantly more harshly than Whites; still other studies find that Black defendants are treated more leniently. This analysis examines three methodological procedures: (1) the selection of single or multiple points in the criminal justice system for study, (2) the number of jurisdictions included in studies, and (3) the level of aggregation of aggregation of jurisdictions used in studies of racial disparities. The authors conclude that some of the ambiguity reported in this literature can be traced to studies of single or few jurisdictions, single decision points in criminal justice processing, and to inappropriate aggregation.

A Tale of Three Cities: Labor Markets and Homicide

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between labor stratification and crime. Using data from the census tracts of Cleveland, Washington, DC, and Seattle, the analysis compares homicide rates and labor market conditions. The analyses show that in all three cities labor market participation has significant influence on levels of homicide. However, the structure of work in each city also appears to have an important effect on the rate at which people do not finish high school. The pattern of these effects differs across cities. In Seattle, the city with what might be called “a twenty-first century industrial structure,” work operates primarily through education to affect murder rates. In Cleveland and Washington there is more of an underclass effect. Homicide rates in Cleveland reflect the presence of underclass communities and an important direct influence of education on crime. Washingtons homicide rate is driven in a more substantial way simply by a pervasive underclass.