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Each student is requried to write an essay on the book Ghettoside. ...

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Running head: CRITICAL BOOK ANALYSIS

Critical Book Analysis of Jill Leovy’s Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America Samuel Compagno SOCI 4432 – Criminology Kennesaw State University May 3rd, 2018

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CRITICAL BOOK ANALYSIS

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Good journalists and authors write stories about topics that that the public care about. Great journalists and authors write the stories that need to be heard even if people do not want to know they exist. Jill Leovy is a great author who has shed light on one of America’s most shameful, horrible social issues. Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America highlights the murders being carried out by African Americans against other African Americans and the homicide detectives who investigate those murders. While Leovy is correct in the historical causes of the current situation, there are other solutions that Leovy did not consider in her work that need to be implemented in order to permanently solve the black-on-black murder crisis. Summary Leovy’s book is centered on the murders of Bryant Tennelle, the son of a homicide detective, and Dovon Harris, as well as the detectives most closely tied to the case (2015). After introducing the murders, Leovy switches back and forth between discussing the criminal environment in Los Angeles and the development of the cases. She provides a historical context that led to the high crime areas, and evaluates the police departments’ response to the murders throughout the decades. One of the causes she highlights is the treatment of African Americans both before and after the Civil War. After slavery, the criminal justice system in the South was heavily influenced by white policies that made blacks mistrust agents of criminal justice and, eventually, take justice into their own hands (Leovy, 2015). With regards to the police departments, Leovy discusses “the Big Years” and how homicide units were overwhelmed by the high crime rates in the 1980’s and 1990’s which led to thousands of cases being unsolved. Skaggs’ and Tennelle’s careers are examined and used to guide her discussion (Leovy, 2015).

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Towards the end of the novel, Tennelle focuses more on Bryant’s death and the convictions of Devin Davis and Derrick Starks for his murder (Leovy, 2015). Leovy also discusses the problems facing upper management in police departments when it comes to training and retaining good detectives. Finally, she highlights causes for recent reductions in black-on-black violence that have been occurring in Los Angeles, such as Supplemental Security Income programs that provide those with poverty with some economic autonomy (Leovy, 2015). Also, she notes that high incarceration rates of African Americans have helped reduce homicide rates because blacks are safer inside prison then they are on their own streets despite the obvious flaws with this solution. The overall point of this novel is summed extremely well by William J. Stuntz’s quote in the last paragraph: “Poor black neighborhoods see too little of the kinds of policing and criminal punishment that do the most good, and too much of the kinds that do the most harm” (Leovy, 2015). Critical Analysis There are many points and subjects in Leovy’s book that can be examined in detail. This analysis will focus on three topics: victim portrayal, police portrayal, and causes of violence. Victim Portrayal Dovon Harris case. Ghettoside opens with a powerful image of an African American mother, Barbara Pritchett, receiving the shoes of her dead son and weeping inconsolably over them. The Caucasian detective delivering the shoes, John Skaggs, appears emotionless and detached. Leovy describes the poor state of health Pritchett has fallen into since the murder of Dovon Harris which is a result of her fear to leave her own home (Leovy, 2015). However, Dovon’s killer is about to go on trial, an unusual outcome for a ghettoside homicide, and Pritchett has Detective Skaggs to thank for that.

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When her son was murdered, Barbara Pritchett had the same lack of faith in the police that was endemic in her area. Numerous murders of black men before and after Dovon’s death had gone without judicial resolution, and this represented a trend decades in the making (Leovy, 2015). Leovy does an exemplar job at conveying the sadness, grief, and hopelessness that overwhelms Pritchett and so many others with similar victimizations. As is quoted often in the book, every murder victim is “some daddy’s [and/or mommy’s] baby,” and the pain of losing a child is the same everywhere. Furthermore, John Skaggs understands this sentiment and uses it to fuel his desire to bring justice to every case that comes to him. Due to the double-digit differences between black and white murder rates (Light & Ulmer, 2016), particularly in Los Angeles, many African Americans do not believe that white police officers can truly sympathize with their plight (Leovy, 2015). However, Skaggs is able to connect with people in a way that makes them believe in him and, by extension, the criminal justice system. Bryant Tennelle case. While Pritchett represents the majority of murder victims’ families and the struggles they endure, Wally Tennelle and his family provide a different perspective. Even though Tennelle’s children were a mix between black and Hispanic, they mostly identified as black (Leovy, 2015). Despite living in a neighborhood surrounded by gangs and their influences, all of the Tennelle children were successful in life and avoided gang involvement. However, Bryant made friends that had gang affiliations which may have put him in harms’ way the day that he was killed. As is typical of murder victims, Leovy offers high praise for Bryant’s persistence, work ethic, and friendliness. While there is little doubt Bryant Tennelle was a good person, victims of crime’s flaws are frequently forgotten or ignored by those who remember them (Leovy, 2015). Police Portrayal

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While the author has high praise for some officers, including Skaggs, Tennelle, Sam Marullo, and Nathan Kouri, her book convey as overall negative tone on the efforts being carried out by Los Angeles’ police officers and departments (Leovy, 2015). Some of the negative feedback comes from the officers themselves, such as Tennelle’s negative view on detectives with low clearance rates, but Leovy uses these to create a larger critique of law enforcement, especially upper management, and their job performance thus far. Her negative views on the administrative echelons seem to have been heavily influenced by the officers mentioned above (Leovy, 2015). Aside from some precinct commanders, Leovy does not have any interviews or stories from upper management to counter the criticisms offered by mid-level detectives. Skaggs is placed on a pedestal as a savior to homicide investigations and an example of how all detectives should act, but there is a possibility that Skaggs had flaws that were known to upperlevel commanders yet were not shared in this novel. Causes of Violence Examining the historical context behind the violence seen in Los Angeles, Leovy identifies several factors that have contributed to this social phenomenon. As mentioned previously, she blames slavery for providing the foundation for African Americans to rebel against authority and rely on themselves for justice. After slavery ended, maltreatment by southern whites and the criminal justice system they controlled led to multiple large migrations out west (Leovy, 2015). When they arrived, blacks were met with the same racial prejudices. However, unlike the South where black-on-black indiscretions were simply ignored, police departments in their new cities closely monitored and prosecuted African Americans for petty crimes in line with preventative policing (Leovy, 2015). Even with this new attention, black-onblack murders went unsolved and unreported by the media. As black gangs like the Bloods and

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Crips solidified their control over violence, the state responded ineffectively by allocating resources to police units that pursued drug and gang crimes while allowing homicide units to be overwhelmed by sheer volume (Leovy, 2015). Failing to bring murderers to justice, Leovy claims, is the main reason killings still occur to this day and why, despite police and courts being ready to investigate these crimes, there is still little community cooperation (2015). There is strong evidence to support Leovy’s claims about the origins of violence, but she fails to provide a sufficient explanation, aside from poverty, as to why the violence has persisted long after slavery and the migrations. Theories, such as Aker’s Social Learning Theory and Sykes and Matza’s Neutralization Theory, can help shed light on why this phenomenon has persisted throughout the decades (Walsh & Ellis, 2007). Theoretical Discussion of the Problem of Urban Violence As addressed briefly in Ghettoside, violent crime in America has been decreasing steadily since the 1990’s with today’s levels slightly lower than those seen in the 1970’s (Markle, 2017). However, between 2015 and 2016, there was an increase in murder and non-negligent homicide from a rate of 4.9 to 5.3. California’s rate was slight lower at 4.9 for 2016, but that still represents a 3% increase (UCR Table 2, 2016). For 2016, Los Angeles County reported 94 murders/nonnegligent manslaughter and 6,124 total violent crimes (UCR Table 8, 2016). However, in stark contrast to the county, the city of Los Angeles reported 293 homicides and 28,817 violent crimes (UCR Table 6, 2016). With 15,883 murders reported in 2016, Los Angeles is responsible for 1.8% of all murder victims that year (UCR Table 2, 2016). Setting aside the known flaws with UCR statistics, the data above demonstrates that residents in and around Los Angeles still face violence on a daily basis, and that violence may be getting worse. This problem is not unique to Los Angeles and California either. Around 6,000

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African American males have been killed on the streets of New Orleans since 1980. Nationally, over 250,000 black males were murdered between 1980 and 2013 which is four times as many soldiers that died during the entire Vietnam War (Goldberg, 2015). It is clear that a better diagnosis and treatment plan is required to address this societal disease. While Leovy offers reasons as to how this cycle of violence began, there are sound theories that can explain why it has continued other than historical context. Neutralization Theory suggests that one of the reasons criminals continue their antinormative behavior is that they are able to neutralize their sense of responsibility and/or guilt through a system of denial. Sykes and Matza identify five elements of this system: 1) denial of responsibility, 2) denial of injury, 3) denial of victim, 4) condemnation of the condemners, and 5) appeal to higher loyalties (Ellis & Walsh, 2007). Points four and five are seen frequently throughout the book, including Leovy’s origins claim regarding the South’s legal system. When post-Civil War criminal justice reform prejudiced African Americans, they responded by condemning that laws and those who enforced them who were mostly white. This attitude of condemnation has penetrated the depths of the African American psyche today. Any negative response to black-on-black crime is viewed as illegitimate because of systemic racism still seen in the criminal justice system today. Once the normal authority figures were condemned in the eyes of African Americans, they were free to devote their loyalties to groups they felt deserved and/or earned it. These groups took the forms of gangs and violent social movements. Because the state lacked, and still lacks, a monopoly on violence, blacks had to respond to violence against their group/gang with appropriate violence. Time has allowed these loyalties to become so entrenched and convoluted that many modern gang conflicts cannot trace the origin of the matter being fought over. African Americans have neutralized enough aspects of modern society

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to continue their cycles of violence, and these neutralizations must be addressed before they can be convinced to stop killing each other. The neutralization techniques mentioned above do not come naturally to a person. Rather, they have to be taught. Aker’s theory on social learning provides an explanation as to how the historical transgressions mentioned by Leovy have been passed from generation to generation. Essentially, Social Learning Theory states that once a person has developed norms conducive to criminality, those norms can be passed down to younger generations due to the authority that adults have. Furthermore, systems of punishment and reinforcement are used to solidify these norms (Walsh & Ellis, 2007). Children of freed slaves learned their anti-white establishment behaviors or developed them on their own due to a lack of parentage. As demonstrated in Leovy’s novel, these values carried through the migrations and were reinforced once inner-city blacks fell into poverty (Leovy, 2015). This cycle of learning from gang members and criminals needs to be interrupted in order to raise a generation of African American youth who respect the authority of the state and trust criminals to be brought to justice. Obviously, the state would also have to take measures to earn that trust. Conclusion Jill Leovy’s book is an excellent novel that needs to be read by every American, particularly those living in suburban areas that have never seen or experienced the violence plaguing inner-city African Americans. However, Social Learning Theory and Neutralization Theory provide better explanations as to why black-on-black violence has persisted throughout the decades. Ghettoside has opened my eyes to horrors that I was unaware of and reinforced my passion for law enforcement work. More detectives like Skaggs and Tennelle are needed, and I hope to one day honor their tremendous accomplishments with my own.

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9 References

Goldberg, J. (2015). A matter of black lives. The Atlantic, 316(2), 70-80. Leovy, J. (2015). Ghettoside: A true story of murder in America. New York, NY: Spiegel & Grau. Light, M. T., & Ulmer, J. T. (2016). Explaining the gaps in White, Black, and Hispanic violence since 1990: Accounting for immigration, incarceration, and inequality. American Sociological Review, 81(2), 290-315. Markle, G. (2017). Measuring crime [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://kennesaw.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/1433906/viewContent/22450035/View. United States Department of Justice. (2016). FBI: UCR 2016 crime in the United States: Table 2: Crime in the United States by region, geographic division, and state, 2015-2016. [Data file]. Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.2016/topic-pages/tables/table-2. United States Department of Justice. (2016). FBI: UCR 2016 crime in the United States: Table 6: California – offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2016. [Data file]. Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/table-6/table6-state-cuts/california.xls. United States Department of Justice. (2016). FBI: UCR 2016 crime in the United States: Table 8: California – Offenses known to law enforcement by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties, 2016. [Data file]. Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-theu.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/table-8/table-8-state-cuts/california.xls. Walsh, A., & Ellis, L. (2007). Criminology: An interdisciplinary approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc....