NCJ Number
185535
Date Published
January 2000
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This essay aims to inform the debate on race, crime, and justice
by critically evaluating recent empirical research that has
examined the effect of race/ethnicity on sentence severity and by
searching for clues to the contexts or circumstances in which
race/ethnicity makes a difference.
Abstract
Forty recent and methodologically sophisticated studies that have
investigated the linkages between race/ethnicity and sentence
severity are reviewed in this essay; included are 32 studies of
sentencing decisions in State courts and 8 studies of sentence
outcomes at the Federal level. The findings of these studies
suggest that race and ethnicity do play an important role in
contemporary sentencing decisions. Black and Hispanic offenders
-- particularly those who are young, male, or unemployed -- are
more likely than their white counterparts to be sentenced to
prison; in some jurisdictions, they also receive longer sentences
or differential benefits from guideline departures than do
similarly situated white offenders. There is evidence that other
categories of racial minorities also are singled out for harsher
sanctions. These include racial minority offenders convicted of
drug offenses, those who accumulate more serious prior criminal
records, those who victimize whites, or those who refuse to plead
guilty or are unable to secure pretrial release. Thus, this
review suggests that the "discrimination thesis" cannot be laid
to rest. 3 exhibits, 14 notes, 140 references, and appended
exhibit of the indirect and interaction effects found in studies
of race and sentencing
Date Published: January 1, 2000