Gender and ethnic disparities in students’ perceptions of how different groups of persons suspected of possessing and/or selling illegal drugs are treated in the criminal justice system

Abstract

Ethnic minorities and individuals of low socioeconomics status are disproportionately more likely to be detained, arrested, and convicted and receive longer sentences for drug offenses. This article explores gender and ethnic differentials among college students’ perceptions on the criminal justice treatment of different gender, ethnic, and income groups applied to alleged drug offenders. It uses survey data provided by students at a large public university in South Florida. A two-way classification model examines the nature of disparities in perceptions. Students perceive widespread ethnic inequalities and female and Black students perceive greater disparities in the criminal justice system for all disadvantaged groups.

Keywords:

• Drug offenders
• ethnic disparities
• gender disparities
• criminal justice system inequalities
• socioeconomic disparities
• students’ perceptions

Disclosure statement

Authors Manuel J. Carvajal, Assma Twahir, and Ioana Popovici declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, IP, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported solely by internal Nova Southeastern University funds. It did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.