Contextualizing “Deviance” for Future Law Enforcement
A reflection on how a criminology and criminal justice professor teaches humanity to her students - the next generation of law enforcement.
In 1999, a Criminology Professor at a high-ranking research university customarily began his lessons with a PowerPoint, noting the crime theory that the students would unpack for the day. As a student in this course, I distinctly remember his disposition when discussing the biological and sociological explanations of crime. The writings and propositions of some of the featured scholars were infuriating and trivialized the racial and ethnic historical context in America (and other countries). I was a Microbiology major but decided to make the disciplines of Criminology and Criminal Justice my career path to disrupt the complacency that bothered me so much at the time.
However, my educational and professional paths have been marked by further disillusion, biases, confrontations, and constantly having to assert to others that I belong. It was not until I began teaching at a private social justice institution of higher learning that I embraced my role as a true disruptor of knowledge.
In my quest to expand the knowledge, understanding, and empathy of students seeking to disrupt crime through their positions as law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, social justice leaders, or researchers in government or non-profits, I actively work to curate course materials that contextualize deviance. It helps that students are introduced to concepts related to race, class, and gender in sociological courses, followed by focused conversations about the criminalization of these identities in advanced-level courses. One way to strengthen individuals’ understanding of Criminology and Criminal Justice is through John Powell’s concept of othering (1). According to Powell (2017), “othering…is based on the conscious or unconscious assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favored group.” Powell (2017) contends that othering is used “to divide and dehumanize groups, and capture and reshape government and institutions.” Dehumanization could occur based on race, gender, class, age, religion, nationality, language, etc. Once established that a group of people are disposable, societies can enact policies or laws to purposefully disenfranchise or dehumanize this group (i.e., “other/them”) without consequence or dissent from the main group/us.
Therefore, the historical marginalization of groups in the U.S. should continue to be taught despite movements across school districts seeking to ban books such as Brown Girl Dreaming, The Story of Ruby Bridges, and The Hate U Give (2). Most recently, the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee voted to ban a Pulitzer-Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus (3). It is critical to embed readings and discussions about our past in academic institutions, not to make others feel bad but to heal from our past. A lack of understanding has furthered inequities, manifesting as societal chaos and lack of public safety. Therefore, learning about issues of race, gender, and class in a meaningful way will enhance the caliber/competence of future criminal justice leaders, which may lead to reformed laws, efficient resource allocation, and increased public safety. Education programs in Criminology and Criminal Justice in higher education have implemented these courses in their curriculum (4). However, only 14 percent, out of 321 Criminal Justice programs, require that students take these courses for graduation (5). This unbalance may signal to students that these concepts and topics are not critical for practitioners in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
On the contrary, future criminal justice professionals should be well versed in these historical elements so they can truly understand the structure in which they are operating and their role within the system. Take, for example, the history and growth of prisons in America. Several Criminal Justice and Corrections textbooks are reluctant to state that the rise in the imprisonment of Black people was a direct response to the emancipation of enslaved people. White southern lawmakers made up vagrancy laws, labor contract laws, and travel restrictions to turn newly freed people into prisoners and subject them to involuntary servitude through the formation of a convict lease system (6). Consequently, this served as a way to pathologize Black criminality, and the criminal “justice” system began to act as a color-blind structure by setting a discourse based on the eradication of social evils such as drugs, gangs, and crime (7). Examples of this color-blind “law and order” gave us racial sentencing disparities during the war on drugs (crack v. cocaine) and Stop and Frisk laws. The implications of structural racism have real and tangible effects in our society today. We cannot ignore our past because it will further dictate our future.
I must admit my grasp of how historical events and policies shaped our current criminal legal system has not been effortless. I had to augment and, at the same time, discard a great deal of what I learned during my formal education. In-depth discussions regarding the relationship between structural racism and the current state of our society were not always prevalent in academic conversations. As a college professor, I look to increase awareness and change ingrained attitudes, enriching the learning capacity and experience of future criminal justice officials. enBloom seeks to heighten the public’s understanding by ushering people into “community and dialogue” through preserving history and memorializing those who walked through the grounds of the Negro Hospital of the Insane in Maryland. enBloom aims to transform a physical space of pain by embedding systems of agriculture, learning, and economic hubs to acknowledge our past and heal together for the sake of our children.
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References
Powell, J. (2017). Us vs them: the sinister techniques of ‘Othering’–and how to avoid them. The Guardian, 8.
3https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1076180329/tennessee-school-district-ban-holocaust-graphic-novel-maus
4Pattern, R., & Way, L. B. (2011). White men only?: A nationwide examination of diversity courses in the criminal justice discipline. Race, Gender & Class, 345-359.
5 Ibid.
6 Smith, V. (2018). The Prison Industrial Complex. In J.M. Williams & L. Chowdhury (Eds). Contemporary Ethical Issues in the Criminal Justice System. San Diego, CA: Cognella
7 Brewer, R. M., & Heitzeg, N. A. (2008). The racialization of crime and punishment: Criminal justice, color-blind racism, and the political economy of the prison industrial complex. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(5), 625-644.
