Crook County : racism and injustice in America's largest criminal court / Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Cleve, Nicole Gonzalez, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discrimination in criminal justice administration--Illinois--Cook County.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration.

Racism--Illinois--Cook County.

Racism.

Criminal courts--Illinois--Cook County.

Criminal courts.

Minorities--Legal status, laws, etc--Illinois--Cook County.

Minorities.

Minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.

Illinois--Cook County.

Physical Description:

xiv, 252 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford Law Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, [2016]

Summary:

"Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve spent ten years working in and investigating the largest criminal courthouse in the country, Chicago-Cook County, and based on over 1,000 hours of observation, she takes readers inside our so-called halls of justice to witness the types of everyday racial abuses that fester within the courts, often in plain sight. We watch white courtroom professionals classify and deliberate on the fates of mostly black and Latino defendants while racial abuse and due process violations are encouraged and even seen as justified. Judges fall asleep on the bench. Prosecutors hang out like frat boys in the judges' chambers while the fates of defendants hang in the balance. Public defenders make choices about which defendants they will try to 'save' and which they will sacrifice. Sheriff's officers cruelly mock and abuse defendants' family members. Crook County's powerful and at times devastating narratives reveal startling truths about a legal culture steeped in racial abuse. Defendants find themselves thrust into a pernicious legal world where courtroom actors live and breathe racism while simultaneously committing themselves to a colorblind ideal. Van Cleve urges all citizens to take a closer look at the way we do justice in America and to hold our arbiters of justice accountable to the highest standards of equality"--Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : opening the courthouse doors

Separate and unequal justice

Of monsters and mopes : racial and criminal "immorality"

Race in everyday legal practices

There are no racists here : prosecutors in the criminal courts

Rethinking Gideon's army : defense attorneys in the criminal courts

Conclusion : racialized punishment in the courts.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-242) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Van Cleve, Nicole Gonzalez, author. Crook County

ISBN:

9780804790437

0804790434

OCLC:

932385930

Publisher Number:

99967988921