Colorism is discrimination based on skin tone—the lightness or darkness of one’s skin. While there is evidence of colorism in the U.S. criminal legal process—from police stops and arrests, to perceptions of criminality and guilt, to conviction and sentencing—some studies have not found colorism or have found colorism only for specific groups. Theory and methodological and contextual differences help explain heterogeneity in the findings. Some theory suggests that stereotypes influence outcomes in the criminal legal system and may vary depending on the context in which decisions are made (e.g., jurisdiction, judge, police office, location of police stop, jury composition).
There was diversity in contextual factors and methods used to assess colorism in the criminal legal process that helps explain conflicting findings across studies. There were differences in skin tone and criminal legal system outcome measurement, study design, sampling, use of self-reported data, age of the data used relative to study publication date, types of statistical analyses performed, inclusion of key control variables and colorism inherent in some of those variables, and geography. Future research could further address differences and limitations in prior studies.
To redress colorism in the criminal legal system, some scholars have suggested mandating implicit bias training, requiring police to reside in the jurisdictions they police, challenging the legality of color-based decisions in the criminal process, and developing anti-profiling policies. State-level race-based police reforms may reduce skin color disparities in criminal legal system outcomes, in addition to reducing racial disparities.
Article
Colorism in the U.S. Criminal Legal System
Christopher E. Baidoo and Summer Sherburne Hawkins
Article
Institutional Racism and Effects on Health and Well-Being
Valire Carr Copeland, Betty Braxter, and Sandra Wexler
Racial inequality negatively influences the lives of people of color in the United States. Although race refers to differential concentrations of specific genes, the impacts are confined to physical characteristics such as skin color, hair type, and eye color. Rather than designating meaningful biological categories, race is a social construct. Yet, where there are inevitable intersections with institutional structures and interpersonal health relationships, race and racism produce inequities.
Racism occurs within and permeates the overarching political, social, cultural, and economic systems of American society. It can take several forms: structural, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized. Institutional racism in the healthcare system yields adverse effects on the physical and mental health and well-being of racialized individuals and communities. These inequities are well documented.
Recommendations are offered for creating a fairer and more just healthcare system in America. Equality and equity in the country’s healthcare system will be achieved only if racism is challenged in all its forms.
Article
Cultural Humility
Xiafei Wang and Mo Yee Lee
Cultural humility can be defined and its historical development traced among different professions. Specifically, it is useful to contrast the underlying principles of cultural competence with those of cultural humility, highlighting the growing need for cultural humility to be integrated into social work practice, education, and research. Intersectionality, microaggression, and mentalization are key constructs that enrich the understanding of cultural humility’s framework. Cultural humility can be understood in relation to various facets of social work, including direct practice, supervision, institutional accountability, social work education, and social work research. Finally, cultural humility has a potential future role in shaping the social work profession.
Article
Critiques of Trauma-Informed Systems
Wendy Shaia, Temeka S. Bailey, Christopher Beegle, and Maura Tennor
Much of the trauma experienced by individuals, families, and communities, especially in historically marginalized areas, has been created by a series of social phenomena such as structural oppression, racism, and discrimination. Public-serving systems are uniquely positioned to counter the perpetuation of retraumatization that disproportionately impacts oppressed groups. Therefore, trauma-informed care (TIC) and trauma-responsive care (TRC) must evolve through the conscious application of an antiracist and antioppressive approach, thereby preventing the further harming of already marginalized groups. Macro accountability is established by analyzing power systems through a culturally responsive lens rather than blaming and pathologizing individuals impacted by historical and persistent racialized trauma. Applied to TIC and TRC, the SHARP framework renders more effective social work services at the personal and individual, professional and organizational, and political and societal levels more just and humane. A compare and contrast analysis of adverse childhood experience studies, summarizing TIC and TRC, and a case study of the application of the SHARP framework to human services work may shed light on guiding public-serving systems and promoting opportunities for posttraumatic growth and transformative change necessary for dismantling policies, protocols, and practices that increase vulnerability and long-term adverse outcomes in socially disadvantaged communities.
Article
The Movement for Black Lives
Troy D. Harden and Aislinn Pulley
The phrase “Black Lives Matter” has become an identifiable phrase across the globe. Accelerated by social media in an online platform and social action, it is marked by a mass of not only Black folks, but a multiracial collective that has also manifested in direct action protests against police violence toward Black people. Initially a hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, the phrase emerged into one of the most significant social movements in modern times. The Black Lives Matter Movement, along with the term Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), has centered on the historically ignored killings of Black men, women, and youth at the hands of state-sanctioned violence in public discourse, and offers an inclusive approach to organizing for social change.
Article
Indian Americans: Overview
Rachel John, Vithya Murugan, and Isha Desai
Indian Americans have immigrated to the United States since the 19th century. This population is one of the fastest growing and the second largest immigrant group in the United States. Understanding the Indian American experience in the United States requires knowledge of Indian histories, such as British colonialism, immigration policies, and casteism, that have shaped the lived experiences of this population. Significant values and cultural norms, such as being a collectivist and the importance of family, are central to the Indian American experience.
Article
Racism and Accountable Policing for Black Adults in the United States
Robert O. Motley Jr. and Christopher Baidoo
Racism is a public health concern for Black adults in the United States given its prevalence and association with adverse health outcomes for this population. The frequency of high-profile cases involving police use of gratuitous violence against Black adults has raised concerns regarding racially discriminatory law enforcement practices. In this article, racism is defined and a discussion is offered on its impact on the health and well-being of Black adults in the United States; the intersection of racism and policing; contemporary racialized policing practices; emerging evidence on prevalence rates for exposure (direct and indirect) to perceived racism-based police violence and associated mental and behavioral health outcomes; and police accountability through executive, legislative, legal, and other remedies.
Article
Mental Health: Adolescents
Craig Winston LeCroy
Health care practitioners frequently ignore mental health problems in teens. Adolescents’ daily functioning may be hampered as they mature and are exposed to more dangerous settings. The common behavioral and mental health issues that teenagers face is critical to understanding how to best offer prevention and intervention services. Teenage mental health treatment often focuses on developing functional abilities and identifying models of care that can lessen dysfunctional symptomatology. The latest approaches to treating and preventing teenage mental health issues are presented. The mental health field has placed increased focus on implementing evidence-based treatments. In addition to treatment models, numerous additional elements must be taken into account while developing or implementing treatment.
Article
Sayles, Odessa
David Cory and Catheleen Jordan
Odessa Sayles, MSW, was a leading advocate for adoption of Black children by Black families in Houston, Texas, during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. She was well known for dedicating her life to children and to uplifting the Black community. Serving as lead program director for foster care and adoptions for Harris County Protective Services for Children, she was steadfast in seeking culturally appropriate homes for children facing adoption.
Article
Critical Race Studies
Larry Ortiz and Susan Nakaoka
Critical race theory originated in law as a framework for legal studies analyzing the United States’ persistent racial divide. As an upstream theory, it focuses on the underlying social structures and cultural assumptions upholding White supremacy. Since the early 2000s, social work scholars have begun to apply critical race theory tenets to all aspects of the profession, from education to practice. Considering social work’s historic commitment to social justice, and the most recent declarations of the Council on Social Work Education as committed to antiracist education, this article advances the idea that critical race studies in social work is necessary, but the relationship requires serious and ongoing interrogation to unearth the profession’s White supremist roots.
