Why include ethnicity in the offender profile?
The short answer is that we have yet to learn which differences among offenders correlate with susceptibility (or not) to reduced criminal behavior after an offender is subjected to an available sanction, program, or other disposition. The more variables we are able to employ, the more we have the potential to learn. But his question is usually posed by people wary of “racial profiling” and other invidious discriminations based upon minority status. The more compelling answers to this question, then, are these: First, a good number of programs are designed to address the needs of particular ethnic groups within the criminal justice system — African American youth at risk of (or already involved in) gang violence; Hispanic offenders who need Spanish speaking program providers; Native American drug and alcohol providers who attempt to address and employ cultural aspects unique to these offenders, and so on. In order to assess how well these programs perform in reducing recidivism, we mu
The short answer is that we have yet to learn which differences among offenders correlate with susceptibility (or not) to reduced criminal behavior after an offender is subjected to an available sanction, program, or other disposition. The more variables we are able to employ, the more we have the potential to learn. But this question is usually posed by people wary of “racial profiling” and other invidious discriminations based upon minority status. The more compelling answers to this question, then, are these: First, a good number of programs are designed to address the needs of particular ethnic groups within the criminal justice system — African American youth at risk of (or already involved in) gang violence; Hispanic offenders who need Spanish speaking program providers; Native American drug and alcohol providers who attempt to address and employ cultural aspects unique to these offenders, and so on. In order to assess how well these programs perform in reducing recidivism, we m
