Ethnography is an anthropological method for studying individual cultures that is grounded in field work, or field research. Ethnographic researchers collect data through observation and interviews, as Gonzalez Van Cleve did for Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court.

Front-stage and backstage behavior is a sociological concept devised by Erving Goffman (d. 1982), a Canadian-born sociologist who served as the 73rd president of the American Sociological Association. Front-stage behavior refers to how people act in public spaces. By contrast, backstage behavior refers to how people act when they are alone or in small, trusted groups. Front-stage behavior demands decorum, while backstage behavior is relaxed. Gonzalez Van Cleve argues that colorblind racism allowed professionals at the Cook County Courts to use backstage behavior even in public sections of the courtroom.

An indigency hearing is a court procedure that determines if a defendant can afford an attorney. Due process requires that defendants who cannot afford attorneys, deemed indigents by the court, be assigned public defenders free of charge. Gonzalez Van Cleve discusses indigency hearings within the context of racialized court culture, whereby defendants are denied due process, including indigency hearings.