Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences

Rehavi, M. Marit; Starr, Sonja B.

doi:10.1086/677255

“…In addition, mandatory minimums can have pronounced effects on sentencing outcomes (Kautt and DeLone, 2006;Rehavi and Starr, 2014). Thus, we included mandatory minimum as a binary indicator identifying the 34 offense codes which carried a non-suspendable mandatory prison term.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditional Race Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis from a Non-Guidelines State

Hester

¹

,

Hartman

²

2014

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Objectives: To test the liberation hypothesis in a judicial context unconstrained by sentencing guidelines.Methods: We examined cross-sectional sentencing data (n = 17,671) using a hurdle count model, which combines a binary (logistic regression) model to predict zero counts and a zero-truncated negative binomial model to predict positive counts. We also conducted a series of Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that the hurdle count model provides unbiased estimates of our sentencing data and outperforms alternative approaches.Results: For the liberation hypothesis, results of the interaction terms for race x offense severity and race x criminal history varied by decision type. For the in/out decision, criminal history moderated the effects of race: among offenders with less extensive criminal histories blacks were more likely to be incarcerated; among offenders with higher criminal histories this race effect disappeared. The race x offense severity interaction was not significant for the in/out decision. For the sentence length decision, offense severity moderated the effects of race: among offenders convicted of less serious crimes blacks received longer sentences than whites; among offenders convicted of crimes falling in the most serious offense categories the race effect became nonsignificant for Felony D offenses and transitioned to a relative reduction for blacks for the most serious Felony A, B, and C categories. The race x criminal history interaction was not significant for the length decision.Conclusions: There is some support for the liberation hypothesis in this test from a nonguidelines jurisdiction. The findings suggest, however, that the decision to incarcerate and the sentence length decision may employ different processes in which the interactions between race and seriousness measures vary.

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“…However, the results from these studies have been extremely mixed (see, e.g., Spohn and Cederblom, 1991, finding support for the hypothesis for the disposition decision but not for the duration decision; Spohn and DeLone, 2000, reporting results consistent with the liberation hypothesis for some city-and minority-group combinations but not others; Warren, Chiricos, and Bales, 2012, finding support for the hypothesis among some offender/case type/outcome combinations but not others). Perhaps explanations for these null and even contrary results can be found in the newest wave of contextual disparity research (see, e.g., Kutateladez et al, 2014;Rehavi and Starr, 2014;Starr, 2015). First, not only might stage of the process affect the presence or absence of disparities, but factors like geographic context likely matter (see, e.g., Eisenstein et al, 1988;Kramer and Ulmer, 2009;Ulmer, 1997), and 3 Several researchers have also suggested integrating focal concerns with the liberation hypothesis.…”

Section: Interaction Effects and The Liberation Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While much progress has been made toward these objectives, scholars such as Baumer (2013) and Ulmer (2012) continue to highlight the need for studies that examine not just whether race matters in sentencing, but also how and when race factors into judicial decisionmaking (see also Spohn, 2000). These calls are reinforced by a growing literature that finds racial disparities in certain parts of the criminal justice process but not others (e.g., Blumstein, 1982, Kutateladze et al, 2014Rehavi and Starr, 2014). Moreover, there has been a particular emphasis on the need to examine sentencing practices in a broader variety of contexts-in places other than guidelines jurisdictions like Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington, and the federal system, which have dominated the literature (Engen, 2009;Reitz, 2009;Ulmer, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditional Race Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis From a Non-Guidelines State

Hester

¹

,

Hartman

²

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: To test the liberation hypothesis in a judicial context unconstrained by sentencing guidelines.Methods: We examined cross-sectional sentencing data (n = 17,671) using a hurdle count model, which combines a binary (logistic regression) model to predict zero counts and a zero-truncated negative binomial model to predict positive counts. We also conducted a series of Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that the hurdle count model provides unbiased estimates of our sentencing data and outperforms alternative approaches.Results: For the liberation hypothesis, results of the interaction terms for race x offense severity and race x criminal history varied by decision type. For the in/out decision, criminal history moderated the effects of race: among offenders with less extensive criminal histories blacks were more likely to be incarcerated; among offenders with higher criminal histories this race effect disappeared. The race x offense severity interaction was not significant for the in/out decision. For the sentence length decision, offense severity moderated the effects of race: among offenders convicted of less serious crimes blacks received longer sentences than whites; among offenders convicted of crimes falling in the most serious offense categories the race effect became nonsignificant for Felony D offenses and transitioned to a relative reduction for blacks for the most serious Felony A, B, and C categories. The race x criminal history interaction was not significant for the length decision.Conclusions: There is some support for the liberation hypothesis in this test from a nonguidelines jurisdiction. The findings suggest, however, that the decision to incarcerate and the sentence length decision may employ different processes in which the interactions between race and seriousness measures vary.

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“…Previous works have suggested racial disparities in federal sentences against African-Americans ( Rehavi and Starr, 2014) and the selection of jury members (see Bourke et al, 2003, for Alabama;Initiative, 2010, for Louisiana). Thus, historical scars of racism may still linger in the US justice system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racism and Judicial Corruption in the US

Jetter

¹

,

Mesa-Osorio

²

2016

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Is racial hate reflected in the degree of judicial corruption? Using US state-level data, we find racial hate to be a positive and statistically powerful predictor of judicial corruption. This relationship prevails after the inclusion of the conventional control variables and regional fixed effects. In terms of magnitude, one standard deviation increase of racial hate relates to an increase of 70 percent of one standard deviation in corruption. Interestingly, no such relationship can be found for corruption in the executive or legislative branch.JEL Classification: D63, D73, H73, J15, J78

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Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences

Cited by 290 publications

References 29 publications

Conditional Race Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis from a Non-Guidelines State

Conditional Race Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis from a Non-Guidelines State

Conditional Race Disparities in Criminal Sentencing: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis From a Non-Guidelines State

Racism and Judicial Corruption in the US

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