Book Review: Disproportionate minority contact: Current issues and policies

• Author: Rebecca Rodriguez Carey
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/2153368720954262
• Published date: 01 April 2023
• Date: 01 April 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Book Review

Book Review

Parsons-Pollard, N. (Ed.). (2017). Disproportionate minority contact: Current issues and policies

(2nd ed.). Carolina Academic Press. 332 pp. $42.00, ISBN 978-1-5310-0263-3.

Reviewed by: Rebecca Rodriguez Carey , Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, USA

DOI: 10.1177/2153368720954262

In Disproportionate Minority Contact: Current Issues and Policies, editor Nicolle

Parsons-Pollard, sheds light on an important but all too often overlooked issue facing

the United States-that is the issue of Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) in the

criminal justice system, where racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the

general population but when it comes to contact with the criminal justice system, they

are overrepresented. And while the notion of DMC is not new, Parsons-Pollard and the

other contributors provide new information that explains how disproportionate

minority contact came to be. In doing so, Disproportionate Minority Contact will

satisfy readers already familiar with DMC by providing important historical and

political information, while also conveying this information in an easy-to-read format

for those without prior knowledge of the subject. This comprehensive overview makes

it an ideal classroom text for both undergraduate and graduate students studying

systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

With contributions from policymakers, practitioners, and academics from both

criminology and criminal justice, this volume offers a unique and interdisciplinary

perspective on DMC by highlighting different programs across the U.S. aimed at

reducing disproportionate minority conduct. Given the recent unarmed shootings of

Blacks by law enforcement in the U.S., the information in Disproportionate Minority

Contact is needed now more than ever, particularly because Parsons-Pollard and the

other contributorsdemonstrate how DMC is not an “individual” issue but rather one that

is “systemic” affecting a number of systems, including but certainly not limited to the

educationalsystem and child welfare system,as well as Black and Brown communities.

Ashley Nellis sets the stage by providing important background information and

arguing that one cannot examine DMC in the criminal justice system without also

considering the role that the schools play in “pushing out” racial and ethnic minorities

thereby funneling them into the juvenile justice system and ultimately the criminal

justice system.

Parsons-Pollard continues the conversation by examining the historical origins and

contemporary perspectives of a national DMC mandate, as outlined in the Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974. Parsons-Pollard’s analysis centers

Race and Justice

ªThe Author(s) 2020

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2023, Vol. 13(2) 272–274