LESSON 6: Laissez Faire Racism and The Mark of a Criminal Record

1. LESSON 6: Laissez Faire Racism and The Mark of a Criminal Record Ethnic Relations, ROBERT WONSER

2. Laissez-Faire Racism • Laissez-Faire Racism (a.k.a. symbolicracism) is closely related to color blindness and covert racism, and is theorized to encompass an ideology that blames minorities for their poorer economic situations, viewing it as the result of cultural inferiority

3. Bobo and Ryan Smith use this term to represent how the racial outlooks of white Americans have shifted from the more overtly racist Jim Crow attitudes—which endorsed school segregation, advocated for governmentally imposed discrimination, and embraced the idea that minorities were biologically inferior to whites—to a more subtle form of racism that continues to rationalize the ongoing problem of racial oppression in the United States. • Laissez-faire racists claim to support equality while maintaining negative, stereotypical beliefs about minorities.

4. Katherine Tarca writes that laissez-faire racism is the belief, stated or implied through actions, that one can end racial inequality and discrimination by refusing to acknowledge that race and racial discrimination exists. • Laissez-faire racism has two main ideas: • the belief in the melting pot and America’s assertion of ideas of equal opportunity, regardless of race. • laissez-faire racism encompasses the ideology of how individual deficiencies explain the problems of entire social groups. • Tarca explains that Whites tend to view laissez-faire racism as being beneficial to people of color, while many minorities believe that these ideologies contrast and ignore the realities facing many minorities in America.

5. Eduardo Bonilla Silva suggests that all groups of people in power construct these ideologies in order to justify social inequalities. • For example, most racial ideologies today are more inclined to omit unfashionable racist language, which protects racial privilege by employing certain philosophies of liberalism in a more conceptual and decontextualized approach. • These ideologies help to reinforce the existing condition of affairs by concentrating on cultural distinctions as the cause of the inferior accomplishments of minorities in education and employment. • These ideas are primarily focused on the more darker-skinned minorities, such as, African-Americans, Asians and Latinos. • Ideologies like these refuse to acknowledge the systematic oppression, such as the continuing school segregation or persistent negative racial stereotypes that continue to occur in American society.

6. Trends in Incarceration • Over 2 million persons currently incarcerated in U.S., highest rate in world • Numbers reflect trend of longer sentences & more incarceration for greater range of offenses • Little planning or provision for individuals’ eventual return to community • About half a million released annually • 12 million ex-felons total or about 8% of working-age population • Recidivism high, with nearly 2/3 charged with new crimes & 40% return to prison within 3 years of release

7. At least one contributing factor is that incarceration is associated with limited future employment and earnings • Incarceration rate for black men in 2000 was 10% versus 1% for whites • Young black males: 28% likelihood of incarceration during lifetime – a probability that increases to over 50% for young black high school dropouts • Translates into large & increasing population of black ex-offenders returning to communities • Black ex-offenders goal of reaching economic self-sufficiency are compounded by stigma of race along with criminal record

8. I. Trends in Incarceration • Goal of current study is to assess whether effect of a criminal record differs for black and white job applicants • Little or no previous research has explored racial differences in effects of incarceration on such things as employment

9. INCARCERATION STUDY • Four 23-year-old male college students (two black & two white) testers and matched on physical appearance and style of self-presentation • Within each team of same race, one tester was randomly assigned a‘criminal record’ for the first week and this was rotated weekly during period of job searches

10. A. Study Design • Each team randomly assigned 15 job openings per week; • White pair and black pair assigned separate sets of jobs with same-race testers applying to same jobs • A total of 350 employers were audited: 150 by white team, 200 by black team • More audits by black team because they received fewer callbacks and more cases sought to enable more precise estimates of effects under investigation • Tester profiles: criminal record consisted of felony drug conviction (possession with intent to distribute cocaine) and 18 months of prison time served

11. Effect of a Criminal Record for Whites • Criminal record has a large and significant effect: • 34% without records received callbacks, while only 17% of whites with records received callbacks • Finding represents a 50% difference in outcomes

12. EffectsofRace • The effect of race is huge: only 14% of blacks without records received callbacks while a mere 5% with records received calls • Blacks without records in other words received less callbacks (14%) than whites with records (17%) and compared to 34% of whites without records

13. Racial Differences in the Effects of a Criminal Record • Ratio of callbacks for non-offenders relative to ex-offenders for whites is 2:1 • Ratio of callbacks for non-offenders relative to ex-offenders for blacks is 3:1 • The effect of a criminal record is 40% larger for blacks than for whites

14. Discussion • There can be doubt of the powerful, negative effects of a criminal record on employment outcomes: • Chances for employment decreased by 50% to 33% • With millions of ex-offenders, the policy consequences are profound

15. Persistent effect of race on employment also clear from this study: • While incarceration is a strong barrier to employment, race is even a bigger one • The combination of race and a record severely limits employment opportunities for blacks thereby leaving many without viable legal alternatives of livelihood

16. Review Questions • Why is the recidivism rate so high among criminal offenders and what can be done to decrease it? • What effects do race have on the employability of whites and blacks and what does it say about racism in American society?