CRJS410 U2IP Assignment Overview Unit 2 Submission Assignment
Part 1
In my opinion, a cautionary notice is given to users before being directed to the FBI’s publication to prevent entities from ranking crime levels in various parts of the country based on unelaborate data. As is evident from the FBI website, the information provided in the publication only takes into account two variables in ranking crime levels: population coverage and student enrollment (“CIUS Summary”, 2018). The two variables may not be adequate to facilitate a definitive ranking of crime levels. As observed by Freilich et al. (2013), there are other factors to consider in such rankings, including economic conditions and urbanization level. As such, the cautionary notice is likely given to warn entities against using the unelaborate data in ranking crime levels.
Part 2: Define and Describe
Bias
Bias is “a preformed negative opinion or attitude toward a group of persons based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity” (“Criminal justice information”, 2015, p.9).
Race bias
Race bias is a preformed negative opinion toward people who share similar racial characteristics, including skin color (“Criminal justice information”, 2015).
Ethnicity bias
Ethnicity bias is a preformed negative opinion toward people who share a common heritage.
Religious Bias
Religious bias is a preformed negative opinion toward individuals who share the same religious beliefs and practices, such as Catholics and Jews (“Criminal justice information”, 2015).
Bias motivation
Bias motivation is a preformed negative attitude toward particular individuals who share similar characteristics.
The nature of a hate crime
The term nature of a hate crime describes the various ways men and women are victimized subtly and overtly for their diversity (“Criminal justice information”, 2015).
Bias motivation by category and type
Bias motivation can be grouped into six primary categories; racial, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. These categories can further be broken down into various types, such as bias motivation against African Americans and Whites.
Legislative Mandate to Report Hate Crime
Congress implemented the legislative mandate to report hate crime through the passing of the Hate Crime Statistics Act. Notably, the Act required the Attorney General to collect data about the various types of bias motivation (“Criminal justice information”, 2015). In turn, a hate crime data collection was created in compliance with the legislative mandate of Congress.
Distinction between Personal and Institutional Prejudice
Personal and institutional prejudice describes a form of discriminatory treatment toward a particular group of people based on features such as language and cultural heritage. The main distinction between the two concepts is that personal prejudice is a preformed judgment by an individual, while institutional bias is judgment towards a group of people by society and its institutions.
Stereotyping
Stereotypes can significantly influence memory and perceptions of events by placing stereotyped individuals in a given situation even when they were not present and affecting one’s memory of what they recall to have occurred in a given scenario. For example, if a person holds an overgeneralized negative belief about people of a given race, the stereotyping may influence their perceptions about events that involve people of that race.
The training guide explains two common types of stereotypes of minority groups; racial stereotyping of Asians and gender stereotyping of women. The two stereotypes can be differentiated from accurate descriptions of the minority groups by one conducting a one-on-one situation analysis to evaluate each individual distinctively, free of preformed judgment.
Part III
Based on information from parts I and II, I think there could be racial discrimination in arrests. As noted, stereotyping can significantly influence a person’s perception of an event (“Criminal justice information”, 2015). Consequently, such stereotyping can result in arrests of people who belong to particular races or ethnicity because of the preformed attitude that eyewitnesses hold towards them.
Furthermore, I think that cultural diversity has a positive impact on law enforcement practice. As the literature suggests, cultural diversity in the police force improves police-community relations (Todak et al., 2017). Notably, when different races and ethnicities are represented in law enforcement agencies, citizens can adequately cooperate with law enforcers.
References
“CIUS Summary: FBI releases 2017 crime statistics” (2017, September 24). Federal Bureau of Investigation: Uniform Crime Reporting. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/topic-pages/cius-summary
“Criminal justice information services (CJIS) division uniform crime reporting (UCR) program” (2015, February 27). Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual, Version 2.0. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime-data-collection-guidelines-and-training-manual.pdf
Freilich, J., Chermak, S., Belli, R., Gruenewald, J., & Parkin, W. (2013). Introducing the United States extremis crime database (ECDB). Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(2), 372-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2012.713229
Todak, N., Huff, J., & James, L. (2018). Investigating perceptions of race and ethnic diversity among prospective police officers. An International Journal of Police Practice and Research, 19(5), 490-504. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2018.1428097