Facial Profiling in the Halls of Justice: Race, Appearance and Punishment

Co-sponsored with the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and the Center in Law, Society and Culture

Abstract: Unwarranted disparities in punishment represent a cornerstone of empirical research in criminology, sociology, and legal studies. Much of this work suggests defendant characteristics, like race and ethnicity, trigger social attributions that impact sentencing; however, few studies examine these attribution processes and little work goes beyond basic demographic factors to consider how other physical appearance characteristics might shape punishment. The current work investigates these issues, focusing on the intersection of defendant race, appearance and punishment. It examines how race, skin tone and other facial features like attractiveness or visible tattoos impact sentencing decisions and shape criminal punishment in the halls of justice.

Speaker Biography: Brian D. Johnson is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. His areas of expertise involve social inequality in the justice system, with a particular focus on racial disparities in criminal case processing and sentencing. Dr. Johnson is currently serving as co-Editor of Criminology and he was recently appointed to the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy (MSCCSP). His published research appears in journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology and Justice Quarterly.

Event information

Date: Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

Time: 2:00-3:30pm

Location: SBSG1517

Light refreshments will be served. 

PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1ST AT: https://cls.soceco.uci.edu/webforms/rsvp-brian-d-johnson-talk