Exposes the structural forces behind persistent racial disparities in criminal punishment

Despite growing concerns about racialized mass incarceration from the public and lawmakers, racial-ethnic inequalities in the criminal justice system persist. Are biased court actors to blame, or is the problem more systematic? Swift But Severe examines the organizational drivers of cumulative racial-ethnic inequalities across Miami-Dade County’s criminal justice pipeline from arrest to sentencing.

Critiquing and building off dominant socio-legal theories of criminal courts, Nick Petersen blends statistics and interviews to develop a novel perspective he calls “organizationally expedient inequalities,” emphasizing how incentives to process cases efficiently produce policies and practices that prioritize speed over equity. As a result, ostensibly colorblind organizational and cultural forces prioritizing efficiency within Miami’s justice system perpetuate cumulative racial-ethnic disparities that increasingly disadvantage people of color as they progress through the courts, even in the absence of overt racial-ethnic prejudice or stereotypes. Given these structural causes, inequalities emerge in Miami’s courts despite seemingly race-neutral decision-making, underscoring the desperate need for macro-level policy reforms. Using a database tracking nearly 200,000 individuals across Miami’s courts over six years, along with in-depth interviews of court actors and people affected by the system, Swift But Severe underscores the human toll of racism in Miami’s courts.