Disparities of Justice: Unequal Outcomes, Racial and Gender Bias, and Law in the Twenty-First Century

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to bring together multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and interdisciplinary research exploring the ways in which racial identity, gender identity, ethnic identity, and other social identities, and the nexus of said identities, shape disparities affecting all aspects of twenty-first century life in the United States and beyond. As such, this Special Issue aims to highlight how disparities of justice reflect linguistic, ethno-racial/ethnic, and gender biases within the criminal justice system, the law enforcement system, and within the administrative nation state. With “disparities of justice” as a guiding framework, this Special Issue seeks to further unpack the connections across unequal outcomes, especially as those connections illuminate how inequities resulting from political polarization, bureaucratic malfeasance, and structural inequalities reinforce, and are reinforced by, inequities perpetuated by the carceral state. Because many of the factors shaping perceptions about justice are both omnipresent and ever-evolving, the parameters defining what constitutes an unequal outcome and an example of disparate treatment remain in flux. Take, as an example from the United States, high court rulings in the last decade that have addressed affirmative action (inside and outside higher education), election law, redistricting, transgender rights, police powers, congressional authority, affordable housing, and federal educational loan repayment, not to mention state and appellate court rulings in the United States dealing with employment law, jury peremptory strikes, COVID-19 measures, and imminent domain. Similar rulings in regional and national courts across the world have affected justice afforded to minorities. These aspects thus demonstrate changes in the way society conceptualizes and mitigates biological and social identity bias and their relationship to equality before the law.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:  unequal outcomes emerging from all aspects of law (e.g., criminal, administrative, election, human rights, family, environmental, employment, housing, and health care law). This Special Issue welcomes contributions from a wide variety of methodological perspectives and disciplines including political science, ethnic studies, sociology, cultural studies, law, women, gender, and sexuality studies, and more.

Dr. Tyson King-Meadows
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• inequalities in law enforcement
• racial and ethnic politics
• unequal outcomes
• administrative law
• socioeconomic inequality
• disparate treatment
• lawsuits about protecting the civil rights and liberties of minorities