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THE COLOR OF CRIME: RACIAL HOAXES, WHITE FEAR, BLACK PROTECTIONISM, POLICE HARASSMENT AND OTHER MACROAGGRESSIONS, by Katheryn K. Russell. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Reviewed by BECKY L. TATUM
Southern University at New Orleans
Katheryn Russell's The Color of Crime is a thought-provoking analysis of race and crime in American society. In this book, Russell explores how race and racism affect relationships between blacks and whites, various phases of the criminal justice system, and crime and criminal justice research. Under these three paradigms, a variety of topics are discussed, some that are traditional to the ongoing race/crime debate and others that represent relatively new ways of thinking about and studying the issue.
The book is presented in eight chapters. Chapter 1 examines media images of black Americans and, most important, how these images affect the attitudes and behaviors of blacks and whites. Russell notes that despite black structural gains, public characterizations of black Americans are primarily negative and revolve around black male deviance. Focus group discussions with law-abiding black college males suggest that these negative perceptions are encountered at an early age. Ironically, the image of the criminal black man that causes whites to fear black males also empowers black males through their ability to generate fear. In the eyes of the focus group participants, black criminality is the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Blacks engage in crime because society expects them to" (p. 9). The negative perceptions of blacks and the resulting adverse treatment are driven home through the experiences of a young white college male who, in a racial experiment, becomes black by taking a skin-darkening drug.
To illustrate the historical racial bias in American criminal laws, in chapter 2 Russell presents an overview of slave codes, black codes, and Jim Crow legislation. These three examples serve as a framework for six "fairness" principles that Russell argues are minimally required for racial equity in the criminal justice system. The principles are: (1) Criminal penalties apply to everyone regardless of race of the offender. (2) Criminal penalties apply to everyone regardless of race of the...