Opening Pandora's Box: How Does Defendant Race Influence Plea Bargaining?

• NCJ Number: 250032
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: April 2016 Pages: 398-426
• Author(s): B. L. Kutateladze; N. R. Andiloro; B. D. Johnson
• Date Published: April 2016
• Length: 29 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-DJ-BX-0038
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Prosecution and Racial Justice in New York County

Annotation

Using unique data on misdemeanor marijuana cases, this study examined the impact of defendants' race on prosecutors' decisions to make (a) plea offers for a lesser charge and (b) sentence offers for non-custodial punishments.

Abstract

Preliminary findings indicated that Black defendants were less likely to receive reduced charge offers, and both Black and Latino defendants were more likely to receive custodial sentence offers; however, these disparities were largely explained by legal factors, evidence, arrest circumstances, and court-actor characteristics, but Black defendants were still more likely to receive custodial sentence offers after including these controls. No differences were found between White and Asian defendants. Implications for research and prosecutorial practices are discussed.