Critical Race Realism

Building on the field of critical race theory, which took a theoretical approach to questions of race and the law, Critical Race Realism offers a practical look at the way racial bias plays out at every level of the legal system, from witness identification and jury selection to prosecutorial behavior, defense decisions, and the way expert witnesses are regarded.

Using cutting-edge research from across the social sciences and, in particular, new understandings from psychology of the way prejudice functions in the brain, this new book―the first overview of the topic―includes many of the seminal writings to date along with newly commissioned pieces filling in gaps in the literature. The authors are part of a rising generation of legal scholars and social scientists intent on using the latest insights from their respective fields to understand the racial biases built into our legal system and to offer concrete measures to overcome them.

Gregory S. Parks is an assistant professor at Wake Forest University School of Law. Parks holds an MA, an MS, and a PhD in psychology and a JD. He served as a law clerk on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to the Honorable Anna Blackburne-Rigsby and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to the Honorable Andre M. Davis. Parks has also worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. He is the co-editor (with Shayne Jones and W. Jonathan Cardi) of Critical Race Realism and a co-editor (with Matthew W. Hughey) of 12 Angry Men, both published by The New Press.

Shayne Jones is an associate professor in the department of criminology at the University of South Florida. He has worked with juvenile justice agencies in Florida and Pennsylvania, focusing on assessment and treatment issues. He is a co-editor, with Gregory S. Parks and W. Jonathan Cardi, of Critical Race Realism: Intersections of Psychology, Race, and Law (The New Press).

W. Jonathan Cardi is the associate dean for research and development and a professor of law at Wake Forest University School of Law. He is a co-author of a torts casebook, a remedies casebook, and two commercial outlines and is a co-editor, with Gregory S. Parks and Shayne Jones, of Critical Race Realism: Intersections of Psychology, Race, and Law (The New Press). He has served as president of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools and chair of the Remedies Section of the AALS and is a member of the American Law Institute. He is also a contributor to the European Group on Tort Law. Cardi clerked for the Honorable Judge Alan Norris, U.S. Federal Court of Appeals Judge for the 6th Circuit, before working as a litigator at the D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter. Prior to joining Wake Forest, he was a faculty member at the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he taught for eight years.