Is Criminal Justice Just?
1
Criminal Justice System Equity Issues
2
Variation of Victimization with
Income
3
Average Annual Rate of Violent
Victimizations Per 1000
Females
Family Income
Less than $10,000
$10,000 - $14,999
$15,000 - $19,999
$20,000 - $29,999
$30,000 - $49,999
$50,000 or more
Total
57
47
42
38
31
25
Intimate
20
13
11
10
5
5
Phillips’ Lecture 4
4
Victimization Rates by Income
Class
Source: Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice, Second edition
5
Questions
Why are victimization rates higher for poor
women than for affluent women?
 Why do victimization rates vary more with
income for robbery than for burglary?

6
Issues in the Operation of the CJS
False Imprisonment: police officers and
district attorneys conspiring to railroad
 Are there injustices by race, ethnicity,
social class for victims?

7
Los Angeles Times

Wednesday, November 10, 1999-p. A1


“Garcetti Seeks to Overturn 4 Cases Tainted
by LAPD”`
Thursday, November 11, 1999- p. A1

“Inmate Freed in LAPD Probe”
 LAPD

Ramparts station
Officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden
8
9
U.S. News and World Report: 119-98
 “The Wrong Men on Death Row”
3517 inmates on death row
 since 1976, 486 executions
 75 known cases of persons wrongly
condemned to die



probability about 2 per 100
States with mistakes
Florida: 19
 Illinois: 9
 Texas: 7
 Georgia: 6

10
Are the risks of mistakes too
high?
 Three
factors in wrongful
convictions
 perjured
testimony
 faulty eyewitness identification
 false confessions
#
1 reason for wrongful convictions
 incompetent
 in
legal representation
1996 Congress stopped funding legal
aid centers in 20 states
11
12
13
14
15
Deep Background: Equity in Society
The distribution of income
 The distribution of wealth
 Poverty
 Education trends

16
This graphic shows the distribution of gross
annual household income. The building's
thirty exposed floors are easily divided into
quintiles, each income quintile represented
by six floors. Each floor represents the tenth
of a third (3.33%) of households in the US,
and each section of 10 floors represent
roughly one third of American society. The
floors above the top black line represent
those households with incomes of or
exceeding $100,000. The floors below the
bottom black line, however, represent those
households who fell below the poverty
threshold. In order to live on the top floor of
the American income strata, a household's
annual gross income needs to exceed
$200,000.
17
Distribution of Income by Quintile
2005
18
Distribution of Income, 2005
- $ 10K
$20K-$30K
$10K – $20K
$90K -$100K
$100K-$150K
$150K-$200K
19
Median Income By Education
20
21
The Rich Get Richer, 2003 $, 67-03
22
Real Median Household Income 67-05
23
24
25
26
Why is Income Distributed So
Unevenly?
Labor Income is Unevenly Distributed
 Part-time work

less than 50 weeks per year
 less than 36 hours per week

27
h school graduate Some college Associates degree Bachelor's degree Bachelor's
520
$46,296
$52,289
$64,150
$68,845
979
$44,153
$49,622
$64,537
$70,349
609
$44,537
$50,485
$63,357
$69,584
607
$45,734
$51,726
$67,487
$72,338
322
$48,588
$54,282
$70,925
$76,958
468
$47,605
$53,166
$69,796
$75,116
835
$45,854
$51,970
$68,728
$73,446
620
$46,109
$51,934
$66,997
$72,376
28
29
SB News-Press Feb 25, 2007
30
Out of 16 million, 1.9
million live in CA
31
15 States with Lowest Median Income
32
33
A Measure of Inequity

Tools:
Lorenz Curve
 Gini Coefficient


Benchmarks
Everybody has the same income
 Each income between 0$ and $100,000 is
equally likely

34
Benchmark: Frequency Distribution for Equal .
0.1
0.09
0.08
Frequency
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
33000
0.01
0
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
Income
35
Equal Distribution of Income
% Population % Income
0
0
20
20
40
40
60
60
80
80
100
100
Lorenz Curve: Equal Distribution of Income
.
120
100
% Income
80
60
40
20
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
% Population
36
Benchmark: Frequency Distribution for Uniform
.
0.01
0.009
0.008
Frequency
0.007
0.006
0.005
0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
Income
37
Uniform Distribution of Income
% Population % Income
0
0
20
4
40
16
60
36
80
64
100
100
Lorenz Curves: Equal and Uniform Distributions
.
120
100
% Income
80
60
40
Equal
Uniform
20
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
% Population
38
US Family Income, 1994
% Families % Income
0
0
20
4.2
40
14.2
60
29.9
80
53.2
95
79.9
100
100
Lorenz Curve: United States Families, 1994
.
120
100
% Income
80
60
40
Equal
Uniform
Family
20
0
0
Source: US Statistical Abstract
20
40
60
80
100
120
% Families
39
Figure . Lorenz Curve and Gini Index=Pink Area/0.5
Equal:Gini = 0
Unequal: Gini =1
40
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/h04.html
US Household Income Gini Index, 1972-2003
0.47
0.46
1993
Gini Index
0.45
0.44
0.43
0.42
0.41
0.4
0.39
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
Year
41
Households includes singles and unrelateds
http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Gini_supplement.html
42
43
44
Victimization Rates by Income
Class
Income Class Burglary Rate* Robbery
Rate†
-$7500
86
9
7,500-9,999
60
7
10,000-14,999
67
5
15,000-24,999
59
5
25,000-29,999
54
5
30,000-49,999
58
4
50,00056
3
* Per 1000 Households
† Per 1,000 Persons
Source: Report to the Nation on Crime and Justice, Second edition
45
Lorenz Curves For Robbery and Burglary Victims
.
120
100
% Victims
80
Burglary
Robbery
Equal
60
40
20
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
% Families
46
Public Goods and Private
Goods

Private Goods

consumption uses them up
 what

you eat is not available to nourish others
Public Goods

consumption does not use them up
 national
defense
 safe streets
 educated citizenry
47
How Much Government Should There Be?
What is the right mix of public goods and private goods?
Private
Goods
Too Few Public Goods
Optimal Mix
Slope of the
Production PossibilityFrontier:
Marginal Cost of Public Goods
÷ Marginal Cost of Private Goods
Public Goods
48
Questions
Should safety be provided publicly or privately?
 How about safe streets?

49
Questions

What happens when public order breaks
down?

Colombia
Colombia: Kidnap capital of the world
Rebels held Alistair Taylor
for two years
50
Columbia Monthly # Kidnappings
200
100
0
1991
1999
51
Killing
plan
LA Times Feb 8, 2007
Mother of
5 led 800
Displaced
families
“Fighting the paramilitaries is like a burro
going up against a tiger” --Displaced
Farmer
52
Questions

What happens when public order breaks
down?

Middle Ages
 Roaming
bands
 Viking raiders
 Peasants owed fealty and three days of labor a week
to the lord in return for protection within the walls
53
Encyclopedia Britannica
This was a necessity in the midst of the civil disorders,
enfeebled governments, and barbarian invasions that wracked
Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. In such conditions,
small farmers and landless labourers exchanged their land or
their freedom and pledged their services in return for the
protection of powerful landowners who had the military strength
to defend them.
54
Questions

What happens when public order breaks
down?

Other examples
 Mafia
provides protection
 Insight towards gangs: sections of cities where the
community does not trust the police, gangs fill the
vacuum
 Iraq: weak central government, Shia militias fill the
vacuum, and protect against rival Sunni marauders,
exhibit “A” – Sadr City
55
Questions; How About Other Public
Goods?

College education? Should it be private or
public?
UC or Stanford?
 Cal State?

56
????: Safety? Higher Ed? Health Care?
LA Times Feb 15, 2007
57
How Much Government Should There Be?
What is the right mix of public goods and private goods?
Private
Goods
Too Few Public Goods
Optimal Mix
Social Welfare Function
Slope of the
Production PossibilityFrontier:
Marginal Cost of Public Goods
÷ Marginal Cost of Private Goods
Public Goods
58
Question

In a democracy, who determines the mix of
private and public goods, i.e. social welfare?
59
Gini 0.26
Gini 0.45
Gini 0.33
Gini 0.31
60
How Much Government Should There Be?
What is the right mix of public goods and private goods?
US
Private
Goods
Too Few Public Goods
Optimal Mix
Social Welfare Function
Canada
Slope of the
Production PossibilityFrontier:
Marginal Cost of Public Goods
÷ Marginal Cost of Private Goods
Public Goods
61
Essay Questions – Final Exam

The California Criminal Justice System could be
described as a “train wreck”.




Briefly explain why this may be true for enforcement and
adjudication
Expand on why this seems to be the case for CA
corrections. Draw on recent current events for examples.
Describe at least four policy recommendations you could
make that would improve the situation.
The United States has one of the highest levels of
GDP per capita in the world. Yet we may not have the
highest level of social welfare. Explain
62
Recommendations
John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society
 Albert O . Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty

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