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Cumulative Colorism in Criminal Courts
Nick Petersen1, Yader R Lanuza2, Marisa Omori3
1University of Miami, Department of Sociology & Criminology, Merrick Building 122G, Coral Gables, FL, 33146, USA.
Abstract:
A growing literature documents skin color stratification in punishment, whereby darker-skinned individuals fare worse than their lighter-skinned counterparts. Virtually all of this research has focused on colorism operating through direct channels. Utilizing a novel dataset linking the mugshots and court records of 6931 felony defendants from Miami-Dade County (Florida) from 2012 to 2015, we show that colorism in punishment, particularly for Hispanics, operates through indirect mechanisms - in addition to direct channels. We argue that colorism in punishment is sustained through a cumulative (dis)advantage process, highlighting how skin color stratification is institutionalized in the criminal justice system.
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