Racialization, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada

by Wendy Chan, Dorothy Chunn

Overview

Race still matters in Canada, and in the context of crime and criminal justice, it matters a lot. In this book, the authors focus on the ways in which racial minority groups are criminalized, as well as the ways in which the Canadian criminal justice system is racialized. Employing an intersectional analysis, Chan and Chunn explore how the connection between race and crime is further affected by class, gender, and other social relations.The text covers not only conventional topics such as policing, sentencing, and the media, but also neglected areas such as the criminalization of immigration, poverty, and mental illness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442605763
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	04/29/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Wendy Chan is Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University, author of numerous articles and books on crime and immigration, and co-editor of Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System in Canada (2001).

Dorothy E. Chunn is a professor emerita of sociology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction
The Racialization of Crime
Structure of the Book

Part One: Concepts, Theories, Approaches

1. Concepts and Theories about Race, Racialization, and Criminal Justice
Conceptualizing Race, Racism, and Racial Difference
The Racialization of Crime and Criminal Justice in Canada
The Criminalization of Racial Groups

Part Two: Constructing Criminal Justice

2. Intersectionality, Crime, and Criminal Justice
Intersectionality and Feminist Criminologies
Who Is an (In)Credible Lawbreaker or Victim of Crime?
Normative Expectations and Criminal Justice
The "But For" Phenomenon
Rethinking the "Criminal–Victim" Dichotomy
Intersectionality and Equality

3. Race, Crime, and Mental Health
Anti-Psychiatry and Critiques of the Psy Complex
Racial Discrimination, Racial Disparities, and Mental Health
Mad or Bad? Categorizing Dual Deviants
Diagnosing Dangerousness: Mental Illness and Violence
Deinstitutionalization and the Criminalization of Madness

4. Media Representations of Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice
Newsworthiness and Crime Reporting
Race, Crime, and Moral Panics
Crime and Criminal Justice as Spectacle

Part Three: Administering Criminal Justice

5. Race, Racism, and Policing
Policing Under the Radar
Racial Profiling and Police "Stop and Search" Decisions
Race and Police Use of Force

6. Race, Sentencing, and Imprisonment
Gendering Criminal Justice
Race and the Criminal Justice Process
Unintended Consequences of Criminal Justice Reform

7. Criminal Victimization and Hate Crimes
Victimization of Women
Racialized Youth and Criminal Victimization
Hate Crimes in Canada

Part Four: Criminalizing Racial Groups

8. The Racialization of National Security
Legislative Changes
The New Enemy
The Exceptional State?
Bolstering Domestic Security

9. The Racialization of Immigration Surveillance
Migration Surveillance
Preventing and Deterring Unwanted Migration
Detention and Deportation
The Rise of Anti-Immigration

10. The Criminalization and Racialization of Poverty
Rolling Back State Support
The "Undeserving" Poor
Penalizing and Criminalizing Poor People

References
Legal Cases Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

Shoshanna Pollack

Extremely well-researched and thorough, this text should be useful in a broad range of disciplines: social work, criminology, and gender and anti-racist studies. One of the strengths of this book is its coverage of topics that are missing from most criminology texts, especially the role that the state plays in constructing criminality in the areas of immigration and national security, as well as discussions of mental health and race.

Hijin Park

This comprehensive and accessible text provides a theoretically-rich look at the various ways that race and racism are central to Canada's criminal justice system. Chan and Chunn explore previously under-examined events and cases to establish how race intersects with gender, disability, citizenship, class, and nation. The result is a book that offers an understanding of racialization and crime in a neoliberal and white-settler context.

Editorial Reviews

This comprehensive and accessible text provides a theoretically-rich look at the various ways that race and racism are central to Canada's criminal justice system. Chan and Chunn explore previously under-examined events and cases to establish how race intersects with gender, disability, citizenship, class, and nation. The result is a book that offers an understanding of racialization and crime in a neoliberal and white-settler context.—Hijin Park, Brock University
Extremely well-researched and thorough, this text should be useful in a broad range of disciplines: social work, criminology, and gender and anti-racist studies. One of the strengths of this book is its coverage of topics that are missing from most criminology texts, especially the role that the state plays in constructing criminality in the areas of immigration and national security, as well as discussions of mental health and race.—Shoshanna Pollack, Wilfrid Laurier University

From the Publisher