Criminal-justice bias is inherent to all stratified societies.

Evidence

The effect of skin tone on one’s treatment within the CJS is not just restricted to African Americans but extends to Latinos as well. For example, using a nationally representative sample, and after controlling for an array of legally relevant factors—for example, delinquency record—White (2015) found that the darker the skin tone of Blacks and Latinos, the more likely one was to be stopped and arrested by the police (see also Alcalá & Montoya, 2016). The empirical evidence presented by these data not only attest to the presence of a racial hierarchy, but also one’s position within a pigmentocracy … Also, often underappreciated and under theorized in the criminal justice literature, is the fact that discriminatory treatment of Blacks and Latinos within the United States is a special case of a much more general and crossculturally consistent phenomenon: namely, the oppression that the CJS metes out to those of subordinate social status compared to the relatively benign and disproportionately helpful treatment given to those of dominant social status. According to social dominance theory (SDT) (Sidanius & Pratto, 2001; 2012), this disparate treatment of dominants (e.g., Whites) and subordinates (e.g., Blacks and Latinos) within the CJS is a phenomenon which is inherent within all stratified and hierarchically organized societies. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 53 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Racial bias enters criminal justice at every decision stage from legislation to verdict.; Criminal justice discrimination against subordinates recurs across all stratified societies — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 53; Criminal justice bias reflects universal dominance hierarchies, not US peculiarity (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Criminal justice discrimination against subordinates recurs across all stratified societies #expands (0.95) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 53