Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Probation and Race in the 1980s: A Quantitative Examination of Felonious Rearrests and Minority Threat Theory

  • Published:
Race and Social Problems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Black and Latinx persons are overrepresented in the population of people who are incarcerated, on probation and on parole in the United States. Empirical investigations on the breadth and depth of the disparate outcomes for incarcerated Black and Latinx persons remain limited, presenting historical gaps in the understanding of community corrections at different time periods. Taking the position that history repeats itself and that data on racial and ethnic inequalities from the past are as relevant as data in the present, this study examines the relationship between race and community corrections during the 1980s, filling a historical void in the documentation, statistical rigor, and understanding of disproportionate probation outcomes. A nationally representative sample of 12,368 people on probation in the United States during the late 1980s was used to examine Minority Threat Theory, yielding the findings that an individual’s race and ethnicity, as well as the community’s racial and ethnic composition were predictive factors of a probationer being rearrested for a felony charge. The findings suggest that racial and ethnic disparities in community corrections existed almost four decades ago and the crafting of policies that foster a fair community corrections system should look to the past as well as the present when tailoring and implementing community alternatives to incarceration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alexander, M. (2012). The new jim crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Tayyib, A. A., Koester, S., & Riggs, P. (2017). Prescription opioids prior to injection drug use: Comparisons and public health implications. Addictive Behaviors, 65, 224–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayres, I., & Borowsky, J. (2008). A study of racially disparate outcomes in the Los Angeles Police Department. Los Angeles: ACLU of Southern California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, K. M., DeLisi, M., Wright, J. P., Boutwell, B. B., Barnes, J. C., & Vaughn, M. G. (2013). No evidence of racial discrimination in criminal justice processing: Results from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(1), 29–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, S. D. (2014). The long shadow: Decreasing barriers to employment, housing, and civic participation for people with criminal records will improve public safety and strengthen the economy. W. St. L. Rev., 42, 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blount-Hill, K. L., & St. John, V. (2017). Manufactured “mismatch” cultural incongruence and black experience in the academy. Race and Justice, 7(2), 110–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouvier, B. A., Elston, B., Hadland, S. E., Green, T. C., & Marshall, B. D. (2017). Willingness to use a supervised injection facility among young adults who use prescription opioids non-medically: A cross-sectional study. Harm Reduction Journal, 14(1), 13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowling, B. (2018). Pulled over: How police stops define race and citizenship. Policing and Society, 28(5), 626–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatfield, C. (2018). Introduction to multivariate analysis. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, J. C., & Mears, D. P. (2015). Race, ethnic, and gender divides in juvenile court sanctioning and rehabilitative intervention. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 52(2), 181–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crenshaw, K. W. (1988). Race, reform and retrenchment: Transformation and anti-discrimination law. Harvard Law Review, 101, 1331–1387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danielle Kaeble, Lauren E. Glaze. (2016). Bureau of Justice Statistics. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2015)

  • Edkins, V. A. (2011). Defense attorney plea recommendations and client race: Does zealous representation apply equally to all? Law and Human Behavior, 35(5), 413–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, D. N., Blount-Hill, K. L., & Cubellis, M. A. (2018). Examining housing discrimination across race, gender and felony history. Housing Studies, 1-18.

  • Evans, D. N., Szkola, J., & John, V. S. (2019). Going Back to College? Criminal Stigma in Higher Education Admissions in Northeastern US. Critical Criminology, 1-14.

  • Farrington, D. P., & Welsh, B. C. (2005). Randomized experiments in criminology: What have we learned in the last two decades? Journal of Experimental Criminology, 1(1), 9–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freiburger, T. L., & Hilinski, C. M. (2013). An examination of the interactions of race and gender on sentencing decisions using a trichotomous dependent variable. Crime and Delinquency, 59(1), 59–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furlan, A. D., Carnide, N., Irvin, E., Van Eerd, D., Munhall, C., Kim, J., et al. (2018). A systematic review of strategies to improve appropriate use of opioids and to reduce opioid use disorder and deaths from prescription opioids. Canadian Journal of Pain, 2(1), 218–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabbidon, S. L., Higgins, G. E., & Potter, H. (2011). Race, gender, and the perception of recently experiencing unfair treatment by the police: Exploratory results from an all-black sample. Criminal Justice Review, 36(1), 5–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2001). The culture of control (Vol. 367). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geller, A., & Curtis, M. A. (2011). A sort of homecoming: Incarceration and the housing security of urban men. Social Science Research, 40(4), 1196–1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelman, A., Fagan, J., & Kiss, A. (2007). An analysis of the New York City police department’s “stop-and-frisk” policy in the context of claims of racial bias. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 102(479), 813–823.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, M. K., Fields, M., & Maxwell, S. R. (2001). Examining probation violations: Who, what, and when. Crime and Delinquency, 47(4), 537–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung, H., Spjeldnes, S., & Yamatani, H. (2010). Recidivism and survival time: Racial disparity among jail ex-inmates. Social Work Research, 34(3), 181–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaeble D (2016) Probation and parole in the United States, 2015. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1–19

  • Kent, S. L., & Jacobs, D. (2005). Minority threat and police strength from 1980 to 2000: A fixed-effects analysis of nonlinear and interactive effects in large US cities. Criminology, 43(3), 731–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolodny, A., Courtwright, D. T., Hwang, C. S., Kreiner, P., Eadie, J. L., Clark, T. W., et al. (2015). The prescription opioid and heroin crisis: A public health approach to an epidemic of addiction. Annual Review of Public Health, 36, 559–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kutateladze, B. L., Andiloro, N. R., Johnson, B. D., & Spohn, C. C. (2014). Cumulative disadvantage: Examining racial and ethnic disparity in prosecution and sentencing. Criminology, 52(3), 514–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11, 7–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langan, P., & Cunniff, M. (1992). Recidivism of felons on probation, 1986-89. Bureau of Justice Statistics: U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langan, P., & Dawson, J. (1990). Profile of felons convicted in State Courts, 1986. Bureau of Justice Statistics: U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, S. J., Long, J. S., & Freese, J. (2006). Regression models for categorical dependent variables using Stata. Texas: Stata Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, B. D., Green, T. C., Yedinak, J. L., & Hadland, S. E. (2016). Harm reduction for young people who use prescription opioids extra-medically: Obstacles and opportunities. International Journal of Drug Policy, 31, 25–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massoglia, M., Remster, B., & King, R. D. (2011). Stigma or separation? Understanding the incarceration-divorce relationship. Social Forces, 90(1), 133–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsuda, M. J. (1987). Looking to the bottom: Critical legal studies and reparations. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Review, 72, 30–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGovern, V., Demuth, S., & Jacoby, J. E. (2009). Racial and ethnic recidivism risks A comparison of post incarceration rearrests, reconviction, and reincarceration among white, black, and hispanic releasees. The Prison Journal, 89(3), 309–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKay, T., Lindquist, C., Feinberg, R., Steffey, D., Landwehr, J., & Bir, A. (2018). Family life before and during incarceration. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 57(2), 96–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menard, S. (2002). Applied logistic regression analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage Pblications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. R., Lawrence, B. A., Carlson, N. N., Hendrie, D., Randall, S., Rockett, I. R., et al. (2017). Perils of police action: A cautionary tale from US data sets. Injury prevention, 23(1), 27–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moineddin, R., Matheson, F. I., & Glazier, R. H. (2007). A simulation study of sample size for multilevel logistic regression models. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 7(1), 34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, K. D. (1994). Factors associated with probation outcome. Journal of Criminal Justice, 22(4), 341–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naser RL, Visher CA (2006) Family members’ experiences with incarceration and reentry. Western Criminology Review

  • Natarajan, M. (Ed.). (2010). International crime and justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Netherland, J., & Hansen, H. (2017). White opioids: Pharmaceutical race and the war on drugs that wasn’t. BioSocieties, 12(2), 217–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson, D. E., & Lurigio, A. J. (2000). Predicting probation outcomes: Factors associated with probation rearrest, revocations, and technical violations during supervision. Justice Research and Policy, 2(1), 73–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D., & Shepherd, H. (2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. Annu. Rev. Sociol, 34, 181–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pager, D., Western, B., & Sugie, N. (2009). Sequencing disadvantage: Barriers to employment facing young black and white men with criminal records. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 623(1), 195–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, L., & Lynn, M. (2002). What’s race got to do with it? Critical race theory’s conflicts with and connections to qualitative research methodology and epistemology. Qualitative Inquiry, 8, 7–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersilia, J. (1985). Probation and felony offenders. Fed. Probation, 49, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersilia, J., & Turner, S. (1993). Intensive probation and parole. Crime and Justice, 17, 281–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piquero, A. R. (2008). Disproportionate minority contact. The future of children., 18(2), 59–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rehavi, M. M., & Starr, S. B. (2014). Racial disparity in federal criminal sentences. Journal of Political Economy, 122(6), 1320–1354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rembert, D. A., Henderson, H., & Pirtle, D. (2014). Differential racial/ethnic predictive validity. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 12(2), 152–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, D. E. (2003). The social and moral cost of mass incarceration in African American communities. Stan. L. Rev., 56, 1271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, R. R., & Gendreau, P. (Eds.). (1980). Effective correctional treatment. Toronto: Butterworths.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satter, B. (2009). Family properties: Race, real estate, and the exploitation of black urban America. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scull, A. T. (2014). Decarceration: Community treatment and the deviant-a radical view. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shannon, S. K., Uggen, C., Schnittker, J., Thompson, M., Wakefield, S., & Massoglia, M. (2017). The growth, scope, and spatial distribution of people with felony records in the United States, 1948–2010. Demography, 54(5), 1795–1818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sims, B., & Jones, M. (1997). Predicting success or failure on probation: Factors associated with felony probation outcomes. Crime and Delinquency, 43(3), 314–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snell, T. (1995). Correctional populations in the United States, 1993. Bureau of Justice Statistics., 6(7), 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinmetz, K. F., & Henderson, H. (2016). Inequality on probation: An examination of differential probation outcomes. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 14(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugie, N. F., & Lens, M. C. (2017). Daytime locations in spatial mismatch: Job accessibility and employment at reentry from prison. Demography, 54(2), 775–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, R. J., Miller, R., Mouzon, D., Keith, V. M., & Chatters, L. M. (2018). Everyday discrimination among African American men: The impact of criminal justice contact. Race and Justice, 8(2), 154–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Travis, J. (2005). But they all come back: Facing the challenges of prisoner reentry. Washington DC: The Urban Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S., Petersilia, J., & Deschenes, E. P. (1992). Evaluating intensive supervision probation/parole (ISP) for drug offenders. Crime and Delinquency, 38(4), 539–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uggen, C., Horowitz, V., & Stewart, R. (2017). Public criminology and criminologists with records. The Criminologist, 42, 3–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visher, C. A., & Travis, J. (2011). Life on the outside: Returning home after incarceration. The Prison Journal., 91(3), 102S–119S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Western, B. (2002). The impact of incarceration on wage mobility and inequality. American Sociological Review., 67(4), 526–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Western, B., & Sirois, C. (2017). Racial inequality in employment and earnings after incarceration. Working Paper. Cambridge, Mass. Massachusetts: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wooldredge, J., & Thistlethwaite, A. (2005). Court dispositions and rearrest for intimate assault. NCCD News, 51(1), 75–102.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY Graduate Center, New York City, USA

    Victor St. John

Authors
  1. Victor St. John
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victor St. John.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

St. John, V. Probation and Race in the 1980s: A Quantitative Examination of Felonious Rearrests and Minority Threat Theory. Race Soc Probl 11, 243–252 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-019-09265-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-019-09265-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation