Honors Theses
Advisor
Karen Bartley
Department
History
Publication Date
Spring 4-2015
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Events in the past year have brought racial and ethnic discrimination in the criminal justice system to the forefront of American consciousness. In reality, race has been used to create stereotypes for centuries, often supported by “scientific” and “statistical” evidence to support the idea that certain races are more likely to commit crimes than others. In my research, I trace the development of these ideas as well as the evidence used to support these racial notions primarily by drawing upon conference transcripts from two professional organizations: The National Prison Association and the National Conference of Charities and Corrections covering the years 1885-1915. While the analysis of these stereotypes includes African Americans, I focus on the stereotyping of foreign-born and second-generation Americans as well as those who were not considered white a century ago, such as “Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians.”
Permission Statement
This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.
Keywords
Undergraduate research
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | History | Legal | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies
eCommons Citation
Wilhelm, Elizabeth M., "Black White and In-Between: Race and Ethnicity in the Criminal Justice System 1885-1915" (2015). Honors Theses. 52.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses/52
