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Current Developments_________________________________

 

Current Developments Outside New York__________________

 

Reports_____________________________________________

The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties (JPI 2007). This report finds that 97 percent of the nation’s large-population counties imprisoned African Americans at a higher rate than whites. The report documents racial disparities in the use of prison for drug offenses in 193 of the 198 counties that reported to government entities.

Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, National Security, and Human Rights in the United States (AI 2004). This report describes the increasing use of racial profiling in the areas of police, immigration, and airport security procedures, particularly since September 11th. It also examines the insufficiency of state laws in this area. The report was prepared by the Domestic Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA.

Race and Incarceration in Maryland (JPI 2003). This report published by the Justice Policy Institute describes the disproportionately high incarceration rate for African-Americans and Latinos in US prisons, with special emphasis on the impact in Maryland.
 

Data Collection Resource Center (Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University). The Institute publishes research on data collection measures and methods intended to forestall or remedy racial profiling by law enforcement. It serves as a clearinghouse for police agencies, legislators, community leaders, social scientists, legal researchers and journalists. Information published online includes: background of data collection, jurisdictions, legislative developments and resources for data collection.
 

How to Correctly Collect and Analyze Racial Profiling Data (COPS 2003). This report reviews the methods used by law enforcement agencies in four cities to collect racial profiling data in traffic stops. It includes an assessment of current techniques, a list of recommended practices and a review of the literature. This project was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
 

Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men (Justice Policy Institute 2002). This is report is a fiscal analysis of state budgets for more than a decade. It underscores the shift in spending from education to incarceration. The Justice Policy Institute prepared this study to serve as a guide to policy makers and legislators to reform sentencing laws and make better funding choices.
 

¿Dónde Está la Justicia? A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S. Justice System (Building Blocks for Youth 2002). This report describes the first national analysis of the disparate treatment that Latino and Latina youths face in the juvenile justice system. It surveys rates of incarceration and sentences. The report concludes with recommendations for reform.
 

Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 1999 (BJS 2002). "Provides data on the nature and characteristics of traffic stops, as collected in the 1999 Police-Public Contact Survey. Tables present detailed demographic characteristics of the 19.3 million drivers stopped by police in 1999."
 

Traffic Stop Data Collection Policies for State Police, 2001 (BJS 2001). "This report presents findings from the 2001 State Police Traffic Stop Data Collection Procedures. State police agencies were asked to report on their policies and procedures for collecting race and ethnicity data regarding motorists involved in traffic stops."
 

Final Report of the [New Jersey] State Police Review Team (NJ Attorney General 1999). Additional reports and consent decrees regarding investigation into racial profiling in New Jersey have been compiled by the New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety.
 

Off Balance: Youth, Race & Crime in the News (Building Blocks for Youth 2001) Table of Contents. This study of crime news reporting revealed that "combined distortions of people of color overrepresented as criminals and underrepresented as victims, young people over-represented as criminals, and the undue coverage of violent crime, produce an inaccurate and unfair image of crime in America." It concluded with recommendations for the media to present crime news in context. Read about the report's impact in Coverage of Crime Often Distorts Reality, Buffalo News, May 17, 2001
 

Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collections Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned (BJA 2000) "To encourage voluntary data collection, the U.S. Department of Justice set about developing a resource guide on this subject. The result is this publication, A Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems, prepared by staff of NortheasternUniversity. This document provides an overview of the nature of racial profiling; a description of data collection and its purpose; current activities in California,New Jersey, North Carolina, and Great Britain; and recommendations for the future."
 

Attacking Bias in the Justice System: A Compendium of Program Alternatives (ABA Coalition for Justice 2000) is a collection of specific projects, programs and recommendations bar associations, courts and communities can draw from to address bias in the justice system.
 

Initial Report of the United States of America to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination September 2000). Racism continues to leave its insidious mark on the cardinal institutions of American life according to this federal report, Government Report Says American Society Has Not Eliminated Racism, Findlaw Legal News, September 22, 2000
 

Racial Profiling: Limited Data Available on Motorist Stops (Government Accounting Office March 2000)
 

Justice on Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights 2000). Read about the report in the Executive Summary or in New Report Chronicles Criminal Justice System's Racial Bias, CNN Online, May 4, 2000
 

U.S. Department of State Initial Report of the United States of America to the UN Committee against Torture (State Department, September 1999)

 

Research Links________________________________________

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