Transcript Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Flashcards Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 law which affected sentencing by establishing mandatory minimum penalties for drug trafficking based on the quality of the drug involved and differentiated crack cocaine from powder cocaine for sentencing purposes crack cocaine crack cocaine harsher penalties have been passed for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine; crack cocaine is used more often by the lower class discrimination discrimination policies and practices of the criminal justice system actors and agencies explain minority overrepresentation in the system disproportionate minority contact (DMC) disproportionate minority contact (DMC) refers to the overrepresentation of minority group members at all stages of the criminal justice process, including arrest, trial, and punishment ethnicity ethnicity refers to a group’s common social or cultural traits ethnocentrism ethnocentrism the beliefs that either certain races or certain ethic groups are by definition better or worse than others hyper-segregation hyper-segregation the social and legal separation of racial minorities but especially blacks into discrete geographic areas institutional racism institutional racism a form of prejudicial treatment whereby practices at many points in the justice system disproportionately affect members of color justice by geography justice by geography the idea that urban jurisdictions tend to deliver harsher sentences than nonurban jurisdictions manifest injustice manifest injustice a sentence that is simply not appropriate given the facts in the case race race divides human beings into distinct groups based on hereditary characteristics racism racism the beliefs that either certain races or certain ethic groups are by definition better or worse than others sentencing disparity sentencing disparity when a judge sentences two similar defendants to distinctly different types of punishments underclass underclass disadvantaged groups in society