The Dark Side of Reform: Exploring the Impact of Public Policy on Racial Equity contains nine chapters on the development of social policies with the potential to advance racial equity. In addition to studying these policies and their implications, the chapters in this volume demonstrate how lessons from the past can be used to inform the direction of current discussions. At the heart of these conversations are concerns about whether Black people, in particular, will receive the full benefit of transformative laws that may emerge in the coming years. The volume also offers recommendations on implementing policies that address the unique concerns of structurally disadvantaged communities with particular emphasis on Black and Latinx people.
Tyrell Connor is associate professor of sociology at the State University of New York - New Paltz. Daphne M. Penn is postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Editors Connor and Penn set the stage for this collection in the introduction, promising examinations of diverse social conditions through a racial equity lens. The chapters that follow deliver on this promise. Topics covered include gun violence, policing, surveillance, marijuana legalization, health inequities, hate crimes, immigration, voting rights, and education. Even as the book addresses varied issues, each author maintains a focus on the policy criterion of racial equity in their own way. The problem analyses provide a window into how conceptualizing a condition influences its perception and potential policy alternatives. Ultimately, this is a worthwhile volume for students new to public policy, policy analysts, and policy makers as they consider the merits of different approaches to policy analysis and the authors' proposals. This book is recommended for undergraduates and professionals. -- "Choice Reviews" In The Dark Side of Reform: Exploring the Impact of Public Policy on Racial Equity, Professors Connor and Penn make a critically important contribution.The pandemic and the growing awareness that the criminal legal system and policing need to be completely reimagined have caused the nation to ask critical questions about reform. Connor and Penn have responded, moving the conversations on race and equity from the margins to the center of the domestic policy debate. The data and varied analyses in this book provide timely information to anyone concerned about public policy in America. --Anthony C. Thompson, New York University Penn and Connor brilliantly curate a timely and comprehensive look at the ways public policies, while having the potential to produce equity, often reproduce inequality as result of a lack of intentionality in addressing the unique dynamics at the intersections of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. This collection sheds light on the connections from the historical to the contemporary with policies ranging from gun control to education reform. And as whole, the collection serves as an essential guide to critically analyze and develop public policy. --Daren Graves, Simmons University
