The race problem in the American criminal justice system endures because the public and policymakers enable it. Racial justice advocates’ tendency to point the finger of blame chiefly at police officers, prosecutors, and criminal court judges is, therefore, misguided. The same can be said of the conventional wisdom that traces the root of the problem to racist politicians, racial conservatives, Republicans, Presidents Reagan and Bush, and the like. Regardless of whether we define the problem as having to do with unequal treatment in the process or with the gross overrepresentation of minorities in the process, the bottom line is that very few American citizens and policymakers care enough to mobilize around it. It can be argued that the disinterest is not entirely unfounded, even if its foundation is faulty. Considering the steady flow of informational cues in the public arena about blacks and crime, there is little wonder why most voters and lawmakers are convinced the current state of affairs is reasonable, even if regrettable. The story told in this book is the story of how racial concerns are consistently ignored in the national crime policy process, and why.

Seldom do we consider at length the part played by the body politic as a whole – that is, the combined influence of average citizens, courts, lawmakers, lobbyists, academics, and mass media. Instead, the black law enforcement experience is typically examined by way of a legal, sociological, or criminological lens.