Critical Race Theory's Role in Understanding Race, Crime, and Justice

Critical Race Theory's Role in Understanding Race, Crime, and Justice

"Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an intellectual and politically committed movement in American legal scholarship that studies race, racism, and power." (Wikipedia's Critical Race Theory, 2011, para 1) CRT originated in American law schools and began as a response to interdisciplinary legal studies. Critical Race Theory has made its way into ethnic studies, political science and education, and into a range of scholarly movements outside the U.S.

"CRT is concerned with the idea of inescapable and inherent racism in the American legal system, as well as the consistent application of racial subordination and discrimination in the practice of law, with the exception of 'interest-convergence' issues, in which both the white majority and minorities profit from the expansion of rights (as argued by Bell in 'Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma')." (Critical Race Theory, para 2) It rejects interdisciplinary legal studies' belief in the transformative power of society. "It emphasizes the socially constructed nature of race and considers judicial conclusions to be based on inherently racist social assumptions." (Critical Race Theory, para 3)

CRT is loosely unified by two common areas of inquiry even though no set of canonical doctrines or methodologies defines it. "First, CRT analyzed the way in which white supremacy and racial power are reproduced over time, and in particular, the role that law plays in this process. Second, CRT work has investigated the possibility of transforming the relationship between law and racial power, and more broadly, the possibility of achieving racial emancipation and anti-subordination." (Wikipedia's Critical Race Theory, 2011, para 2)

CRT emerged in part from the milieu of Critical Legal Studies (CLS). CLS is "a field of inquiry that argues that preserving the interests of power, rather than the demands of principle and precedent, is the guiding force behind legal judgments". "CLS theorists suggest that the existing precedents are indeterminate, allowing the judiciary wide freedom to interpret them according to prevailing balance of power." (Critical Race Theory, para 5) It inherited many of its political and intellectual commitments from civil rights scholarship and CLS. "Scholars like Derrick Bell applauded the focus of civil rights scholarship on race, but were deeply critical of civil rights scholars' commitment to colorblindness and their focus on intentional discrimination, rather than a broader focus on the conditions of racial inequality. Scholars like Patricia Williams, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, and Mari Matsuda embraced the focus on the reproduction of hierarchy in Critical Legal Studies, but criticized CLS scholars for failing to focus on racial domination and on particular sources of racial oppression." (Wikipedia's Critical Race Theory, 2011, para 3) "Both CLS and Critical Race Theory scholars engage in deconstructing extended arguments to demonstrate that legal precedents are not based on a consistent application of legal principles." (Critical Race Theory, para 5)

Key Theoretical Elements

The following major themes are characteristic of work in critical race theory that has been documented by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic:

* "A critique of liberalism: CRT scholars favor a more aggressive approach to social transformation as opposed to liberalism's more cautious approach, favor a race conscious approach to transformation rather than liberalism's embrace for color blindness, and favor an approach that relies more on political organizing, in contrast to liberalism's reliance on rights-based remedies.

* Storytelling/counterstorytelling and 'naming one's own reality'--using narrative to illuminate and explore experiences of racial oppression.

* Revisionist interpretations of American civil rights law and progress--criticizing civil rights scholarship and anti-discrimination law.

* Applying insights from social science writing on race and racism to legal problems.

* Structural determinism, or how 'the structure of legal thought or culture influences its content.'

* The intersections of race, sex, and class.

* Essentialism and anti-essentialism--reducing the experience of a category (like gender or race) to the experience of one sub-group (like white women or African-Americans).

* Cultural nationalism/separatism, Black Nationalism--exploring more radical views arguing for separation and reparations as a form of foreign aid.

* Legal institutions, critical pedagogy, and minority lawyers in the bar." (Wikipedia's Critical Race Theory, 2011, para 4)

Critical Race Theory has been applied in a variety of contexts where institutionalized oppression of racial minorities has been litigated in courts. "Scholars in Critical Race Theory have