5.4f Critical Race Theory
Another theory sociologists use to explain deviance and crime is critical race theory. Critical race theory is a legal theory that draws attention to how race, ideas about race, and racism are embedded in the social structure. When researchers apply critical race theory to deviance and crime, they focus on the criminal justice system. Specifically, they examine how the criminal justice system uses White and middle-class behaviors as the norm and makes the behaviors of racial minorities criminal or deviant. Moreover, critical race theory points out how the criminal justice and legal system unevenly apply the law, such that racial minorities are disproportionately labeled deviant (see Chapter 9).
Applied to the Child Welfare System
Researchers have also used critical race theory to study the child welfare system, which involves the criminal justice system. Laws govern the child welfare system and can involve the police when social workers remove children. Further, in cases that meet the legal threshold of criminal neglect or abuse, a parent may be arrested and charged with a crime.
When child welfare officials remove children from their parents, it is most often due to neglect, not physical or sexual abuse. Neglect “means that the parent has not provided the resources children need like adequate housing, clothing, medical care, education” (Ross, 2022). This result is often unintentional and is caused by poverty. However, the social solution is centered not on getting parents the resources they need to provide for their children. Instead, children are removed as a form of punishment for not having adequate resources to care for them.
Roberts (2022) reports that Black children are much more likely to become the focus of a child welfare investigation than White children. The child welfare system places about 9% of Black children in foster care compared to 5% of White children (Yi et al., 2020). Overall, 37.4% of all children, but 53% of Black children, have been the subject of a child welfare investigation by their 18th birthday (Kim et al., 2017). Applying critical race theory to the child welfare system shows how legal actors (child welfare workers, police) more often label Black parents as neglectful.
Photo 5.8
Black Children are More Likely to Be Removed From Their Parents Due to Poverty Compared to White Children
