Darnell Hawkins speaking at a conference. Image: CrimeCents
Darnell Hawkins spoke at the National Institute of Justice Annual Conference held this week. On a panel titled “The Relationships Between Neighborhoods, Race and Crime,” Hawkins discussed his perspective on the study of race and crime as a an academic with a long and respected career.
While he described himself self-deprecatingly as “grumpy” about our collective failure to make much progress when it comes to the study of race and crime, his presentation was as moving as it was important.
Hawkins’ proposed research agenda for the field, paraphrased roughly (all errors are mine), is as follows:
Move beyond black and white. There are other ethnicities.- Move beyond the mere documentation of the differences.
- Utilize within group comparisons to better understand across group differences.
- Collect data at the local, regional, county level data to explore nuance.
- Include more than just urban areas in our studies. The focus on urban areas gives us a limited window into understanding the roots of ethnicity and racial differences in crime.
- Translate research findings into reasonably plausible policy directives in order to get funding.
I agree with him, and think that in the post- post-modern era we too often think that we have either done the work or that the work no longer needs to be done. As Hawkins points out, we have much to do when it comes to better understanding race, ethnicity, and crime.
Related articles:
- The Implications of a Racist Joke Emailed From the Bench (crimedime.com)
- Guest Post: “Colorblindness” is Denial (crimedime.com)
- Geraldo, Trayvon’s Hoodie, and the Rape of Mr. Smith (crimedime.com)
- Trayvon Martin’s Death and What it Says About Race, Privilege, and Homicide (crimedime.com)
- How to Go to Prison for Stealing Something That’s Free (crimedime.com)
Louise Behiel
June 22, 2012
In my day job, I am the manager for Interpretation and Translation Services in a major Canadian health care organization. It is appalling to me how little any of us knows about cultures outside of our own. Worse we think we know and we’re wrong. It has been a pleasure to work with people from 20+ different countries in Asia and Africa and believe me everyone is unique. We don’t have the black/white issues that have dogged the US but we are developing some very interesting ones of our own. have a great weekend.
CrimeCents
June 24, 2012
Thanks, Louise. Exposure to other cultures is the best defense against de facto segregation – glad you have plenty of opportunities to appreciate people who are not like yourself.
Nessa's Notions
June 22, 2012
The guidelines apply to all research that still relies on the trope of race. So much research fails to understand that all groups are ethnic groups with variable cultural aspects. Race is still a descriptor of color that does not move research in any direction at all.
I was studying the health effects of discrimination on women that had a small subset of responses from Black (political descriptor) women. I wanted to analyze this group separately from the dominant group of Anglo women, but the lead researcher did not think this was necessary. From the outset, the research showed a distinct difference in the ways the women reported discrimination types and effects. Black women overwhelmingly reported experiencing racial discrimination accompanied by physical health problems, while Anglo women reported experiencing gender discrimination accompained by mental health problems. I’m sure that, in part, these experiences were related to the types of work the women were engaged in. Anglo women had more operative and pink collar jobs, while Black women did more work that was physically labor intensive. These factors did not show up in the final research and I felt that the final product was just one more piece of academic claptrap produced to satisfy funders rather than get at the significant effects of workplace discrimination on women’s health.
I wonder if it is possible to do the type of work called for in the Agenda since many institutions and academic departments are beholden to funders who simply want work that justifies their working policies and processes. Great idea, though.
CrimeCents
June 24, 2012
Agreed, Nessa. It’s ridiculous that your lead researcher refused this vital analysis. How can anyone seriously argue that the experiences of women of color are not qualitatively different than those who are white? To ignore this basic fact not only creates shoddy research, but it perpetuates the kind of academic racism that many are afraid to confront.
You are also quite right about the funding difficulties of independent research as well.