The conservative ideology assumes that the individual is directly responsible for his/her own behavior and is capable of making choices and choosing between right and wrong. Walter Miller (1973) discussed the general assumptions of conservative and liberal ideologies as they applied to policies in criminal justice. From a Marxian tradition, given their subordinate position in society, the justice system discriminates against racial minorities as Exploring criminal justice ideology among juveniles Therefore, behaviors of the subordinate class which are seen as threatening are often criminalized and treated more punitively. The conflict perspective views the criminal justice system as serving the interest of the dominant class in society.
Two opposing perspectives are offered to explain the relationship between race/ethnicity and criminal justice ideology. Section snippets Conceptual framework: conflict and consensus views of criminal justice With these points in mind, the purpose of this research was to provide insight into adolescent criminal justice ideology and how race may shape perceptions about criminal justice issues. The parent's conservative ideology, however, did affect the offspring's conservatism (Dunaway & Cullen, 1991). In their examination of the crime ideology of young adults and their parents, the researchers found that the parents’ liberal crime ideology was not related to their child's liberalism. If criminal ideology is not embedded in socialization, however, then it is weak and each generation is open to change and the possibility for new directions in criminal justice policy is enhanced. This lack of research is unfortunate because, as Dunaway and Cullen (1991) suggest, if crime ideology is embedded in childhood socialization then it is strong and likely to be stable and resistant to influence. To date, research has paid little attention to fundamental differences in criminal justice ideology among Black and White youths. To illustrate, Black Americans seem to share a more liberal criminal justice ideology than White Americans, believing for example that social conditions are the root cause of crime (Browning & Cao, 1992). The feelings racial minorities may have towards the criminal justice system may relate to criminal justice ideological assumptions which are generally shaped by factors such as views on crime and its control, and political position within society. Specifically, Black youths were less likely to believe that the police do a good job, and were also less likely to trust the police.
Similar results have been reported by Hurst, Frank, and Browning (2000) who in a comparison of the attitudes of Black and White youths found Black Americans to be significantly less positive in their assessment of the police. Additionally, race was found to be the strongest predictor of attitudes toward fairness and discrimination (Leiber et al., 1998). For example, Leiber, Nalla, and Farnsworth (1998) found non-White youths to be significantly less positive in their assessment of the system. 1 The extant literature also suggests that racial differences in levels of satisfaction appear early in life. Even in cities where Black Americans are in the majority and also have political influence, White residents are still more satisfied with the system (Smith, 2005). One of the most consistent findings is that Black Americans hold less favorable opinions of the criminal justice system than do Whites. During the past three decades, a considerable amount of research has revealed disparity between Whites and non-Whites in their assessments of the criminal justice system (Apple and O'Brien, 1983, Brandl et al., 1994, Tyler and Huo, 2002).
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