Cultural Impact on Communication in Criminal Justice

DIVERSITY By James Burleigh – Victim Advocate

1. Describe How Culture Impacts Communications From Criminal Justice Professionals

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How Culture Impacts Communications From Criminal Justice Professionals ● Culture can be broken into two parts, the external or conscious part, (ie. language, customs, food, etc). The second part, the internal or subconscious part, consists of the beliefs, thought patterns and world views that are shared by everyone in the same social group (Weaver, 1992). ● Race is defined as a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits. Ethnicity is more broadly defined as large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural background (Blakemore, 2021).

Miscommunication Example: Speaking ● An example of verbal miscommunication would be, requesting help to arrest a subject who is wanted for murder, the subject ends up getting killed in the process and later it was discovered that the subject was not wanted for murder.

Miscommunication Example: Listening ● An example of listening miscommunication would be for someone to be getting direction but thinking of something else.

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2. Explain How Cultural Stereotypes Can Negatively Influence Decision Making in Criminal Justice Settings

Stereotype: [Example One] ● A common stereotype to religion can be very harmful when generalized for example, the Muslim religion. After 911, people assumed all Muslims were terrorists. In a criminal justice setting, because of the stereotype, law enforcement approached most Arabic people with extreme caution for fear of a terrorist act.

Stereotype: [Example Two] A common stereotype to race can be very harmful when generalized for example, the African American race. African Americans were thought to be “dangerous” and officers approached with caution for fear of things escalating.

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Stereotype: [Example Three] ● A common stereotype to citizenship can be very harmful when generalized for example, what might be legal in Iraq, may not be legal here.

3. Explain How Diversity Stereotypes Can Negatively Influence Decision Making in Criminal Justice Settings

Stereotype: Socioeconomic Status ● An example of a stereotype common to socioeconomic status (SES) is “poor children are more likely to abuse substances, just like their parents”. It can be harmful when generalized because it creates a stigma that children can’t overcome and eventually begin to believe it themselves. Because of this stereotype, poor people are almost guilty until proven innocent.

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Stereotype: Gender ● “A gender stereotype is a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by, women and men. A gender stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s and men’s capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and/or make choices about their lives” ( Gender stereotyping, n.d.).

Stereotype: LGBTQ+ Status ● Discriminatory criminalization of LGBT people happens in numerous ways. HIV criminalization laws, state indecency laws are enforced based on stereotypes, and drug law enforcement disproportionately targets people of color and low-income people, including LGBT people. Recent years have seen increased attention to the toll of harmful policing strategies on communities of color, low-income people, and LGBT people, many of whom are also people of color and/or low-income ( Unjust, 2016).

Stereotype: Age ● Aging is a highly individualized and complex process; yet it continues to be stereotyped, especially in Western cultures. Stereotypes are unchallenged myths or overstated beliefs associated with a category which are widespread and entrenched in verbal, written, and visual contexts within society. Stereotypes of aging in contemporary culture, particularly North America, are primarily negative, depicting later life as a time of ill health, loneliness, dependency, and poor physical and mental functioning (Dionigi, 2015).

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Stereotype: Disability ● “Disabled people represent a disproportionate number of those stopped, arrested, and murdered by police. This is partially because, as the ACLU of Southern California and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law report , the “war on drugs” and other mass incarceration policies criminalize behaviors related to disability: substance use (which is often a method of self-medication for pain and other symptoms), homelessness (as of 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that 78% of people in shelters had a disability), and atypical reactions to social cues (which may be interpreted as “disorderly conduct”). Societal attitudes towards disabled people, and the intersections of disability, race, and class, contribute to their criminalization: the Ruderman Foundation reports that in police use-of-force incidents, media and police often blame disabled people for their own victimization, especially by characterizing disabled people of color as “threatening” and “refusing to comply” with instructions” (Oberholtzer, 2017).

History Behind Stereotyping ● In 1880, age stereotypes switched from being positive to being negative. In addition, support was found for two potential explanations. Medicalization of aging and the growing proportion of the population over the age of 65 were both significantly associated with the increase in negative age stereotypes. The upward trajectory of age- stereotype negativity makes a case for remedial action on a societal level (Ng et al., 2015).

4. Explain How Personal Bias May Influence Speaking and Listening

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Personal Bias May Infleunce Speaking and Listening ● Ethnocentrism is perceiving one's own cultural beliefs and customs as superior to those of other people. When communicating, an attitude of ethnocentrism makes people from other cultures feel undervalued. When people feel devalued or invalidated, they tend to shut down. Thus, communication is unproductive and/or even counterproductive. Some people are ethnocentric on purpose and consciously and genuinely believe that their own culture is superior to all others. A historical example of this ethnocentric perspective can be seen in Adolf Hitler and his desire to build what he believed was a superior race, the Aryan race (Ethnocentricity & Stereotypes in Communications, 2020). ● Explicit or conscious, the person is very clear about his or her feelings and attitudes, and related behaviors are conducted with intent. Implicit or unconscious bias operates outside of the person’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person’s espoused beliefs and values. ● I believe I have some implicit biases towards Arabic people. Since my time in Iraq, I get a little nervous around them.

References ● BBC. (n.d.). What is prejudice? - prejudice and discrimination - GCSE religious studies revision - BBC bitesize . BBC News. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3vrq6f/revision/1 ● Bekiempis, V. (2016, April 23). Meet the cop who wants to fix LGBT-police relations . Newsweek. Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www.newsweek.com/police-officer-improve-cop-lgbt-relations-380468 ● Blakemore, E. (2021, May 3). Race and ethnicity facts and information . Culture. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/race-ethnicity#:~:text=Race%20is%20defined%20as%20%E2%80%9Ca,or%20cultural%20ori gin%20or%20background.%E2%80%9D&text=Ethnicities%20share%20a%20cultural%20background . ● CBC/Radio Canada. (2016, July 22). Miami officer was aiming for man with autism, shot therapist accidentally, Police Union says | CBC News . CBCnews. Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/miami-officer-trying-to-shoot-man-with-autism-instead-1.3690779 ● Dionigi, R. A. (2015, November 12). Stereotypes of aging: Their effects on the health of older adults . Journal of Geriatrics. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jger/2015/954027/ ● Ethnocentricity & Stereotypes in Communications. (2020, November 2). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/ethnocentricity-stereotypes-in-communications.html ● Gender stereotyping . OHCHR. (n.d.). Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/genderstereotypes.aspx ● Mears, D. P., Craig, M. O., Stewart, E. A., & Warren, P. Y. (2017, December 12). WWW-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu . Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/science/article/pii/S0263237314000437?via%3Dihub

References (Cont.) ● Mummolo, J. (2018). Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 115 (37), 9181–9186. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805161115 ● Ng, R., Allore, H. G., Trentalange, M., Monin, J. K., & Levy, B. R. (2015, February 12). Increasing negativity of age stereotypes across 200 years: Evidence from a database of 400 million words . PloS one. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4326131/#:~:text=In%201880%2C%20age%20stereotypes%20switched%20from%20being%20p ositive%20to%20being%20negative.&text=Medicalization%20of%20aging%20and%20the,increase%20in%20negative%20age%20stereotypes ● Oberholtzer, E. (2017, August 23). Police, courts, jails, and Prisons All Fail Disabled People . Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/08/23/disability/ ● Unjust: How the broken criminal justice system fails LGBT ... UNJUST: HOW THE BROKEN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILS LGBT PEOPLE. (2016, February). Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.lgbtmap.org/file/lgbt-criminal-justice.pdf ● Video: Crisis intervention team (CIT) programs . NAMI. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www.nami.org/Advocacy/Crisis-Intervention/Crisis-Intervention-Team-(CIT)-Programs ● Video: Why cultural awareness benefits officers . Police1. (2016, April 26). Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.police1.com/police-products/training-products/videos/why-cultural-awareness-benefits-officers-CJOVeMeBHmuItcAr/ ● Weaver, G. (1992). Law enforcement in a culturally diverse society . Law Enforcement in a Culturally Diverse Society | Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/law-enforcement-culturally-diverse-society

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QUESTIONS

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CJ 120 Project One

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