There is certainly no escaping the relationship between the question of race and crime. In addressing the issue, it is almost impossible to talk honestly about the interaction of the two with offending or even angering both majority and minority group members. The truth is much too terrible--race and racism continue to shape American life. This course addresses a number of issues:

1. the contemporary realities associated with race and crime from the standpoint of the historical interconnections of the social, political and economic processes that shape the life chances of minorities in American society;
   
   
2. the definitional problems associated with the concepts of race and crime;
   
   
3. the explanatory issues related to minority crime causation;
   
   
4. the literature on the handling of minorities in the criminal justice system.

Readings:

Mann, Coramae R. (1993) Unequal Justice: A Question of Color. Indiana University Press.

Rothenberg, Paula S. (1992) Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Wilbanks, William (1987) The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System. Monterey: Brooks/Cole.