Class, Race, Gender, and Crime: The Social Realities of Justice in America

by Gregg Barak, Paul Leighton, Jeanne Flavin

A decade after its first publication, Class, Race, Gender, and Crime remains the only non-edited book to systematically address the impact of class, race, and gender on criminological theory and all phases of the administration of criminal justice, including its workers. These topics represent the main sites of inequality, power and privilege in the U.S., which consciously or unconsciously shape people's understandings of who is a criminal and how society should deal with them.

The third edition has been thoroughly updated and revised. Maintaining the accessible, high-interest narrative from previous editions, it incorporates current data, recent theoretical developments, and new examples ranging from Bernie Madoff and the recent financial crisis to the increasing impact of globalization, in addition to classic examples. This edition also features a revised structure to better tailor the book for use in the classroom. Part I now provides an introduction to criminology and criminal justice. Part II introduces foundational information on the key concepts of class and economic privilege, race/ethnicity and white privilege, gender and male privilege, and the intersections of these privileges. And Part III examines victimization, criminal law, criminal prosecution, and punishment, looking at each through the lenses of class, race, and gender.

Genres: Crime, Nonfiction, Race

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Gregg Barak is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Eastern Michigan University. In 2003 Barak became the 27th Fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and in 2007 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Critical Division of the American Society of Criminology. Gregg Barak gained popularity as a commentator of the O.J. Simpsons trial on a radio talk show and is also a notable critic of the "crimes of the powerful".

Reviews

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite textbooks from my Engendering Prisons course. The authors explained intersectionality in interesting ways. The viewpoints were fairly radical, which I appreciated.

"Imagine standing in the middle of an intersection with a view down several streets that run in different directions. If a friend stands at the end of one of those streets, she can share some of the same view, but her perspective will also be different: the features that are closest will be different and she will have a view down different side streets. Now, think of those streets as being social dimensions such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and sexual orientation.
The view of those streets represents a person's life experiences, worldview, and "social location." Describing a person's social location based solely on race would be like saying "Third Street" in a large diverse city without specifying a cross (intersecting) street." (81-82)

[Dylan Haman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good supplement to criminal justice education in the United States. The book offers a good lens for viewing criminal justice, but is too heavy-handed on rhetorical flourishes that are not particularly valuable for understanding the true nature and theory of crime.

If we cannot understand the causes of social problems, then our pursuit to solve them will either do more harm than good or nothing at all.

[Morgan Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the layout of information, but felt like it was drawn out. Multiple times took about 3 pages to get to the point of what 1 page could’ve sufficiently said.