Editorial Co-Introduction for 14(1)

• Published date: 01 January 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687231217799
• Author: Jacinta M. Gau
• Date: 01 January 2024
• Subject Matter: Editorials

Editorial Co-Introduction

for 14(1)

Jacinta M. Gau, PhD

Friends and colleagues, authors and reviewers, it has been my honor these past years to

serve the community and the journal Race and Justice (RAJ). Although my name has

been the one appearing in the journal, I have always considered myself more -an

administrator, here to facilitate the process. You are the ones who do the substantive

work. Your manuscripts, your reviews, your downloads, and your citations—these

are what make RAJ succeed.

I want to offer special thanks to my associate editors. Drs. Rod Brunson, Anthony

Peguero, Kareem Jordan, Eric Stewart, and Marjorie Zatz have been with the journal or

with me from the beginning. My after-hours and weekend text messages asking for

advice and assistance never went unanswered.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Ruth Peterson as a mentor and advisor as I have

navigated my own personal and professional place in the study of race and the criminal

legal system.Ruth has always made me feel welcome even when I have doubtedmyself.

A doctoral student posed a question the other day during a class discussion of some

of the most frustrating aspects of the criminal law and its enforcement. She asked,

“What is justice?”Such a simple and yet profoundly unanswerable query. What is

justice, really? What does it look like for victims, defendants, prisoners, communities?

Does the “justice”system merely dispense a series of distasteful compromises that

leave all parties feeling dissatisf‌ied, unheard, and mistreated? Even if the cogs of

the justice system did churn in perfect unison, larger questions would always

remain about the morality of punishment, the types and amount of punishment that

are “right”for any given offense, and the purposes criminalization and punishment

serve in society. So, what is justice? I’m honestly not sure. But I have faith that my

colleagues in the discipline will continue pursuing answers and bringing us ever

closer to the fairness, equality, respect, and safety everyone deserves.

Starting this issue, Dr. Deena Isom takes the helm. I am pleased and comforted to

know that the journal I have grown so fond of will be in her capable hands. I can’t wait

to see what she accomplishes with her editorial team and everyone else helping along

the way.

I am not leaving the editorial scene. Soon I will be transitioning into the role of

co-editor-in-chief (with Dr. Ojmarrh Mitchell of the University of California, Irvine)

at Criminology & Public Policy. I hope to work with many of you as authors, review-

ers, and readers at that journal.

Editorial

Race and Justice

2024, Vol. 14(1) 3-4

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/21533687231217799

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