Colorblind: Indigenous and Black Disproportionality Across Criminal Justice Systems (Critical Criminological Perspectives)

This book uses settler colonialism, critical race, and tribal critical race theories to examine the relationship between settler colonialism and Indigenous and Black disproportionality in the criminal justice systems of the English-speaking Western liberal democracies of the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. It argues that the colonial legacies of the respective countries established a set of subjugating strategies that continue to manifest today in criminal justice disproportionality. Erroneously thought of as a concluded historical event, the modern manifestation of the subjugating strategies is embodied in punitive law enforcement actions disproportionately targeting Indigenous and Black bodies. This book examines how we got to this point in history, opening the door for a discourse on how we might untether the respective criminal justice systems from their colonial practices in the name of social justice. Finally, the book offers educational opportunities for sociologists, criminologists, social workers, criminal justice reform advocates, and other stakeholders. Preface Acknowledgments Contents Abbreviations Part I Historical Framework 1 Introduction The Disproportionate Incarceration of Indigenous and Black People The British Empire's White Settler Colonialism Structure British Settler Colonialism’s Complex Web of Subjugating Strategies Settler Colonialism Is Not a Concluded Historical Event The Present-Day Impact of Settler Colonialism on Indigenous and Black People Indigenous People Black People The Criminal Justice System as a Subjugating Force Key Terms Settler Colonialism Critical Race Theory (CRT) Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) Indigenous Peoples Black People Institutional Racism Structural Racism Criminal Justice System Criminal Justice System Disproportionality References 2 Great Britain’s Colonizing Project Part 1 Investigating Unknown Lands Initial Attempts to Colonize North America Becoming the British Empire The Arguments for Colonization Beliefs Informing the Colonizing Project The British Colonies The 13 Eastern Seaboard Colonies of North America Mercantilism in the 13 Colonies Push and Pull Factors for British Colony Settlers An Already Inhabited Land The Doctrine of Discovery Disease Genocidal Violence and Slavery The Arrival of British Colonists and Settlers—Jamestown Jamestown–Powhatan Confederacy Conflict Jamestown—Powhatan Confederacy Culture Clash Establishing a Framework for the British Settler Colonialism Project The Revolutionary War, Expansionism, and Indigenous Land Dispossession References 3 Great Britain’s Colonizing Project Part 2 Canada Laying Claim New France Great Britain Begins Its Colonization of Canada The Seven Years’ War The Indigenous Nations of Canada and the French Great Britain Assumes Control of Canada The Royal Proclamation of 1763 Treaties and Indigenous Land Economic Development, Immigration, and the Dispossession of Indigenous Land The Civilizing Mission and Indigenous British Assimilation Policies The Birth of the Dominion of Canada Clearing the Indigenous Peoples from Their Homelands Policies to Eradicate All Indigenous Cultures Australia Laying Claim Great Britain Begins Its Colonization of Australia Indigenous Resistance Colony Expansion Mercantilism and the New South Wales Colony The Exponential Growth in Settler Colonialism and Its Impact on the Indigenous Population Land Dispossession and Genocidal Violence Against Indigenous Peoples The Civilizing Mission and Indigenous British Assimilation Policies The Birth of the Commonwealth of Australia Elimination Through Assimilation The Net Results of Elimination Through Assimilation The Net Result of Settler Colonialism on the Indigenous Peoples of Australia On the Margins of Settler Colonialism References 4 Black People in the UK, the U.S., and Canada The UK The First Era of Black Settlement in Britain The Black Population in Seventeenth-Century England The Black Community in Eighteenth-Century London The Abolition of Slavery and the Black Population in England Scientific Racism Black People Become a Significant and Permanent Feature of British Life Get Them Out The Growth of the Black British Population, 1947 to 1970 The U.S. Black People in the Pre-Slavery North American Colonies Slavery and the Changed Status of Black People The Catalyst for the Lifetime Enslavement of Black People and Their Offspring The Othering of Enslaved Black People Enslaved Black Peoples’ Vital Role in the Colonial Economy Three-Fifths of a Person Second-Class Citizenship Jim Crow Laws Upholding White Supremacy Continued Structural and Systemic Inequality Canada The Need for Enslaved Black Labor Indigenous and Black Enslaved People Privileges The 1763 Treaty of Paris The Offer of Freedom and the Promise of Land Freedom Settling in Nova Scotia Segregation Ending Slavery in Canada Migration and the Growth of the Black Population The Black Experience in Canada Final Thoughts References 5 The Political, Legal, and Criminal Justice Systems of the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Australia England and Wales Political System Magna Carta Bill of Rights Act of Settlement Legal System Criminal Justice System Police Forces CPS (Crown Prosecution Office) HMCTS (His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service) Magistrates’ and Crown Court The Court of Appeal The Sentencing Council The U.S. Political System U.S. Constitution Statutes Common Law Criminal Justice System Law Enforcement The Prosecution The Courts Corrections Tribal Justice System Canada Political System Legal System Charter of Freedom Canadian Federal, Provincial, and Municipal Governments Criminal Justice System Law Enforcement Courts First Nations/Indigenous Courts Prosecution Corrections Australia Political System Constitutional Monarchy The Westminster System Legal System Criminal Justice System Police Forces The Court System Indigenous Sentencing Courts Legal Representation Juries Judges Corrective Services Prison References Part II Contemporary and Historical Analysis 6 Law Enforcement and Indigenous and Black People: The UK and U.S. The UK The Demand for Ending Racial Discrimination in the UK Criminal Justice System The Police Involved Fatal Shooting of Mark Duggan The Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme Stop and Search Resumes Disproportionate Policing of Young Urban Black Males The British Nationality Act of 1948 Mangrove Nine Protest The 1980s Rebellions The Scarman Report Macpherson Report 1999 The U.S. Indigenous and Black Americans’ Uneasy Relationship with the Police Coming into Focus Shedding a Light on Fatal Encounters A Relationship Burdened by Historical Mistreatment Forced Removals The Reservation System Tribal Policing Forced Assimilation Slavery Black Codes, Vagrancy Laws, Peonage, and Convict Leasing, 1865 to 1900 Peonage Jim Crow Convict Leasing Jim Crow and Law Enforcement The Twentieth Century and Onward References 7 Law Enforcement and Indigenous and Black People: Canada and Australia Canada The 2020 Report of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada The 2020 General Social Survey (GSS) on Social Identity The 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Deadly Force Database Indigenous and Black Peoples’ Fatal Encounters with the Police Chantel Moore The Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Toronto Police Force Australia The Mistreatment of Aboriginal People by the Police A Tense and Mistrustful Relationship The 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody The Exponential Growth in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Deaths in Police Custody Settler Colonialism References 8 The Influence of Neoconservatism on the Criminal Justice System The Neoconservative Framing of Criminal Justice Neoconservative Ideology and the Shaping of the Criminal Justice Discourse The UK Margaret Thatcher A Free Market Economy Adherent Law and Order The Law-And-Order Speech Law-And-Order Policies Neoliberal Tony Blair and Law and Order The Law-And-Order Platform Continues The U.S. Richard Nixon The Southern Strategy and Coded Racial Messaging The Law-And-Order Template Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton the Neoliberal Violent Crime and Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 The Rush to Incarcerate Neoconservative Push Back Canada Brian Mulroney Declares a War on Drugs Moving Criminal Justice Policy in a Neoconservative Direction Stephen Harper Harper’s Law-And-Order Agenda and Policies The Net Results Australia The Shift to a Tough-On-Crime Approach Lock More People Away The Sentencing Act 1989 Legislative Hyperactivity Neoconservative Tough-On-Crime Rhetoric and Legislation Examining Neoconservative Tough-On-Crime Rhetoric and Its Influence References 9 Settler Colonialism, Race, and Indigenous and Black Criminal Justice Disproportionality Pushing Back Against Neoconservative and Neoliberal Conceptualizations of Law-And-Order Penal Populism as a Continuing Thread in Settler Colonialism’s Subjugating Strategies The Interconnected Nature of Settler Colonialism, Race, and Criminal Justice System Disproportionality Settler Colonialism Racialization and the Creation of Racial Hierarchies Dehumanizing Narratives and Descriptors of Indigenous and Black People The Complex Web of Settler Colonialism’s Subjugating Strategies Colonial Modes of Law Enforcement Genocidal Violence as a Function of Settler Colonialism Law Enforcement Settler Colonialism’s Subjugating Strategies for Enslaved Africans and Their Offspring Post-Slavery Subjugating Strategies Settler Colonialism’s Subjugating Strategies as the Foundations of Contemporary Law Enforcement Expendable, Criminalized Indigenous and Black Bodies, Neoconservatism, Globalization, and the Criminal Justice System Summary References 10 Where the Criminal Justice Systems of the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Australia Converge Three Critical Areas of Convergence in the Criminal Justice Systems of the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Australia Law-And-Order, Getting Tough-On-Crime, and the War on Drugs Historical Background to the War on Drugs: It Has Always Been About Race Opium, Anti-Chinese Sentiment, and a Racial War on Drugs in the U.S., Canada, and Australia Peyote, Indigenous People, and a Racialized War on Drugs Black Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and a Racialized War on Marijuana Use, 1920s to 1930s The Drug War Has Always Been About Race The Modern War on Drugs The UK The U.S. Canada Australia Law Enforcement Practices (Stop and Search, Stop and Frisk, Street Checks, Personal Search) Accusatorial Model Approach to Criminal Procedure (Plea Bargaining) References 11 Untethering the Respective Criminal Justice Systems from Their Settler Colonial Roots Existing and Ongoing Efforts to Decolonize the Respective Criminal Justice Systems Tribal/Indigenous Courts The U.S. Canada Australia Restorative Justice The UK The U.S. Canada Australia Still not Decolonized Tribal/Indigenous Courts Restorative Justice Policy Recommendations for Untethering the Respective Criminal Justice Systems from Their Settler Colonial Roots Truth Commission Truth and Reconciliation Truth Commission Structure Groundwork Examples from the UK, the U.S., Canada, and Australia After the Truth Commission Law and Enforcement Practices Stop and Search, Stop and Frisk, Street Checks, Personal Searches, and Racial Profiling Recommendation Legal System Plea Bargaining Recommendation Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Recommendation Legal Pluralism Community Courts Ending Incarceration for Non-violent Offenders References Index