Everyday Discrimination Among African American Men

• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368716661849
• Author: Reuben Miller,Dawne Mouzon,Linda M. Chatters,Verna M. Keith,Robert Joseph Taylor
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article
Race and Justice
2018, Vol. 8(2) 154-177
Everyday Discrimination
ª The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/2153368716661849
Men: The Impact of
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Criminal Justice Contact
Robert Joseph Taylor1, Reuben Miller1, Dawne Mouzon2,
Verna M. Keith3 and Linda M. Chatters1
Abstract
The present study examined the impact of criminal justice contact on experiences of
everyday discrimination among a national sample of African American men. African
American men have a high likelihood of being the targets of major discrimination as well
as experiencing disproportionate contact with the criminal justice system. Few studies,
however, examine everyday discrimination (e.g., commonplace social encounters of
unfair treatment) among this group. Using data from the National Survey of American
Life, we provide a descriptive assessment of different types of everyday discrimination
among African American men. Specifically, we examined differences in everyday dis-
crimination among men who have never been arrested, those who have been arrested
but not incarcerated, and men who have a previous history of criminal justice inter-
vention categorized by type of incarceration experienced (i.e., reform school, deten-
tion, jail, or prison). Study findings indicated overall high levels of reported everyday
discrimination, with increased likelihood and a greater number of experiences asso-
ciated with more serious forms of criminal justice contact. However, in many instances,
there were no or few differences in reported everyday discrimination for African
American men with and without criminal justice contact, indicating comparable levels of
exposure to experiences with unfair treatment.
1 School of Social Work and Program for Research on Black Americans, Institute for Social Research,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
2 Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging
Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
3 Department of Sociology, Race and Ethnic Studies Institute, Texas A & M University, College Station,
TX, USA
Corresponding Author:
Robert Joseph Taylor, School of Social Work, 1080 South University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Email: rjtaylor@umich.edu

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Taylor et al.
155
Keywords
everyday discrimination, National Survey of American Life, African American men,
criminal justice contact, microaggression
The majority of research on discrimination against African American men in general,
and African American men who have had contact with the criminal justice system, in
particular, is focused on instances of major discrimination such as being unfairly fired
from one’s job, not being hired because of a criminal background, being denied bank
loans, or being stopped or harassed by police and security personnel (Kessler,
Mickelson, & Williams, 1999; Williams, Yu, Jackson, & Anderson, 1997). For
example, experimental audit studies of job applicants indicate that Black men without
a criminal record were significantly less likely to receive a call back than White men
with a criminal record (Pager, 2003). Literature on policing indicates that African
Americans are stopped, questioned, frisked, and arrested by police at significantly
higher rates than Whites, even when controlling for their actual involvement in the
crimes for which they were questioned (Goel, Rao, & Schiff, n.d; Harris, 1997;
Lundman & Kaufman, 2003; New York Times, 2013) or the rates of crime committed
by African Americans in the areas in which they were stopped (Gelman, Fagan,
& Kiss, 2007). Finally, the legacies of race-based discrimination have led to enduring
disadvantages for African American families (Rugh, Albright, & Massey, 2015) in
areas such as the housing market and practices such as racial segregation and pre-
datory banking practices (e.g., subprime lending, disproportionate foreclosure rates).
Collectively, this body of literature documents the presence of major discrimination
against African American men across a wide spectrum of social domains and
activities.
In contrast, there are far fewer studies within this population of what has been
termed, everyday discrimination which, while representing less serious forms of
discrimination, are nonetheless common and impactful occurrences. Everyday
discrimination is defined as consistent but less overt forms of intolerance and unfair
treatment (e.g., being treated with less respect) that occur during commonplace
social encounters (Essed, 1991) and include receiving poor restaurant service, being
perceived as not being smart, being perceived as dishonest, and being followed and
monitored in stores. Everyday discrimination is important due to its overall per-
vasiveness, social patterning indicating greater exposure for racial and ethnic
minority groups, and negative impacts on mental and physical health (Pascoe &
Richman, 2009; Williams & Mohammed, 2009). Given African Americans’ dis-
proportionately higher rates of contact with the criminal justice system, and the
stigma and degraded social status associated with a criminal record, African
American men who have had criminal justice contact likely experience higher
levels of everyday discrimination.
The goal of this study is to investigate instances of perceived everyday discrimi-
nation among African American men with different levels of involvement with the

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Race and Justice 8(2)
criminal justice system. The central question of the analysis is whether criminal
justice contact is associated with different forms and the overall level of everyday
discrimination reported by African American men. The analysis has the advantage of a
large national sample of African American men and the ability to control for major
demographic factors that are recognized covariates of everyday discrimination. This
article begins with a review of research on the impact of mass incarceration and
criminal justice contact on African American men. This section is followed by a
review of research on everyday discrimination and a discussion of the focus of this
investigation.
Mass Incarceration
Over 2 million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, representing a
500% increase since 1980 (Carson, 2014). People who are currently incarcerated
and those who have been released from jails or prisons are a vulnerable group by
almost any measure of health and social disadvantage (Binswanger, Krueger, &
Steiner, 2009; Dumont, Brockmann, Dickman, Alexander, & Rich, 2012; Fazel &
Baillargeon, 2011; Massoglia, 2008; National Commission on Correctional Health,
2002; Patterson, 2013). Eighty percent are considered indigent by the courts that
convicted them, a status that makes them eligible for services from a public
defender (Smith & De Frances, 1996). A Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows
that over half have a mental health problem (James & Glaze, 2006). These inmates
face considerable barriers to their social, civic, and economic participation upon
release that range from chronic unemployment, poverty, and housing instability to
low levels of social and human capital, poor health and mental health outcomes,
and limited access to treatment (Clear, 2007; Drucker, 2013; James & Glaze, 2006;
Pager, Western, & Sugie, 2009; Petersilia, 2003). Mass incarceration has had an
especially deleterious impact on African Americans (Alexander, 2012; Coates,
2015; Garland, 2001; Miller, 2013; Western, 2006), who represent only 13% of the
general population but comprise 38% of all U.S. prisoners (Glaze & Haberman,
2013). Given the high concentration of African Americans in U.S. jails and prisons,
they disproportionately shoulder the disadvantages associated with mass incar-
ceration. For example, if imprisonment rates are held constant, Bonczar (2003)
estimates that 1 in 3 African American men born after 2001 will spend some time
in jail or prison, along with 1 in 18 African American women. This is 6 times the
rate of similarly situated Whites, with 1 in 17 White men and 1 in 111 White
women incarcerated over the life course. Incarceration has therefore become a
normative part of the life course for many African American men. This is espe-
cially true for poor African American men who did not complete high school
(Pettit, 2012).
African Americans are 2.2 times more likely than Whites to be arrested (Federal
Bureau of Investigation, 2013), and when arrested, they are 6 times more likely to
be incarcerated (Bonczar, 2003). While there is considerable variation by gender
and across region, recent estimates of arrest prevalence by race show that nearly

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157
half of all African American men will have been arrested for a nontraffic violation
by their 23rd birthday (Brame, Bushway, Paternoster, & Turner, 2014). Research on
controversial policies such as stop, question, and frisk underscore the ubiquity of
criminal justice contact for African Americans. For example, 83% of the 12 million
people who were stopped and questioned by police officers in New York City were
African American or Latino, despite being half as likely as Whites to have an
illegal weapon and one third as likely as Whites to be in possession of contraband
(New York Times, 2013). Furthermore, African Americans report an increased
likelihood of police stops for reasons respondents describe as ‘‘driving while
Black’’ (Harris, 1997; Lundman & Kaufman, 2003), a colloquialism used to
describe a police stop due to the race of the driver....