Issue Of Overrepresentation Research Articles

Exploring Racial Disproportionalities and Disparities for Black Families Involved with the Child Welfare System

Background: The overrepresentation of Black families in child welfare systems across the various geographical locations (e.g. America, Canada, United Kingdom) is a growing concern. There are competing explanations for the causes of overrepresentation and recommendations for eliminating racial disproportionalities and disparities in child welfare system. This systemic scoping review will provide a succinct synthesis of the current literature on Black disproportionality and disparity in child welfare.
 Methods/Design: This systemic scoping review will employ Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) five stage framework. This will direct our search of the seven academic databases (EBSCO: Criminal Justice Abstracts OVID: Social Work Abstracts Pro Quest: PsychINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, International Bibliography of Social Sciences and Web of Science Core Collections). These seven databases have been chosen due to their interdisciplinary resources on the issue of overrepresentation of Black families in the child welfare sector. The thematic findings will be systemically synthesized using qualitative analysis and presented visually through a chart. Eligible articles for this scoping review include literature that speaks directly to the experiences of Black families involved with the child welfare system. The results of this scoping review will increase the understanding of how racial disproportionalities and disparities emerge, common outcomes and ways to begin tackling this phenomenon for Black families.
 Discussion: In order to tackle this gap in knowledge regarding the overrepresentation of Black families in the child welfare system, this comprehensive scoping review will systematically organize the literature in order to understand how this issue manifests and to fill this gap in research. This methodological approach will allow for the development of practical and intentional methods to move forward in mitigating this issue.

The Overrepresentation of Aboriginal Women in Prisons: A Cycle of Victimization, Discrimination and Incarceration

This paper examines the contemporary issue of the overrepresentation of Aboriginal women in Canadian prisons and suggests that the systemic discrimination and myriad disadvantages that these women face, both within the context of the justice system and in society in general, results in an ongoing cycle of victimization and offending. Specifically, this paper addresses the historical and contemporary forms of violence and victimization that these women face, and examines the impact that this victimization has on offending behaviors. Finally, through an exploration of policing practices, and the complex issue of sentencing Aboriginal offenders, this paper concludes that Aboriginal women are severely disadvantaged at all stages of the criminal justice system, largely as a result of pervasive cultural stereotypes, resulting in worse outcomes for these offenders, and ultimately contributing to the issue of overrepresentation.