Over the past century, significant efforts have been made to understand the effects of race on criminal justice processing and sentencing. As a result of this research, sentencing policies have undergone numerous periods of reform. Yet, racial disparities in sentencing outcomes and incarceration rates continue to give rise to serious questions about how and through what processes race continues to affect sentencing outcomes. In this essay, we will review the scholarly research on race and sentencing, and discuss a number of important sentencing reforms that have taken place in the U.S. over the past three decades in response to evidence of disparate racial treatment and to pressure from advocates for reform.
Following widespread sentencing reforms, such as the adoption of federal and state sentencing guidelines, researchers have continued to examine the complex role of race in the sentencing process. In addition to reviewing empirical research, we will also explore theoretical frameworks that can be used to understand differences in sentence outcomes by race with other important micro-and macro-level characteristics. Finally, we discuss a number of the implications of racially and ethnically disparate sentencing outcomes for research policy. The potential for racial bias to influence sentencing and imprisonment threatens core principles of fairness and equality under the law, as a result, researchers, policy makers and legal advocates have devoted significant attention to questions about what role race plays in the sentencing process and to policies that might reduce racial bias in sentencing. Despite significant efforts to understand and address this vexing problem, new evidence suggests that rising incarceration rates over the past few decades have exacerbated racial disparities in imprisonment. Black inmates now constitute roughly 38% of the nearly 2.2 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails Bureau of justice statistics [BJS], 2007), where they are overrepresented relative to other populations. For instance, there are 3,042 black male inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,261 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males, and 487 white male inmates per 100,000 white males (BJS, 2007). Today, black defendants serve as much time in federal prison for drug offenses as white defendants serve for violent offenses-a result largely attributed to biases in federal statutory penalties for offenses involving crack versus powder cocaine (Mauer and King, 2007a). Understanding why, how, and under what contexts defendant race affects sentencing decisions is crucial to addressing such disparate outcomes. Since the early 20th century, scholars have grappled with questions about the existence …show more content…
Early research on the role of race and ethnicity in criminal sentencing was more descriptive than theoretical. The methodologies involved in early studies were weak, and when theoretical explanations were offered, they often entailed unsophisticated notions of individual prejudice and racial discrimination. For example, Thorsten Sellin (1935) conducted simple comparisons of the average length of sentences given to black, native-born and foreign-born white male prisoners within very broad offense categories. Sellin claimed that the data revealed "the marked influence of race and nationality prejudice in the administration of justice" (p. 212). He concluded that, in light of the prejudice against blacks and foreign born within the society at large, "it would be denying to the judge the ordinary attributes of human nature to assume that he could render justice free from all preconceptions"
Following widespread sentencing reforms, such as the adoption of federal and state sentencing guidelines, researchers have continued to examine the complex role of race in the sentencing process. In addition to reviewing empirical research, we will also explore theoretical frameworks that can be used to understand differences in sentence outcomes by race with other important micro-and macro-level characteristics. Finally, we discuss a number of the implications of racially and ethnically disparate sentencing outcomes for research policy. The potential for racial bias to influence sentencing and imprisonment threatens core principles of fairness and equality under the law, as a result, researchers, policy makers and legal advocates have devoted significant attention to questions about what role race plays in the sentencing process and to policies that might reduce racial bias in sentencing. Despite significant efforts to understand and address this vexing problem, new evidence suggests that rising incarceration rates over the past few decades have exacerbated racial disparities in imprisonment. Black inmates now constitute roughly 38% of the nearly 2.2 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails Bureau of justice statistics [BJS], 2007), where they are overrepresented relative to other populations. For instance, there are 3,042 black male inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,261 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males, and 487 white male inmates per 100,000 white males (BJS, 2007). Today, black defendants serve as much time in federal prison for drug offenses as white defendants serve for violent offenses-a result largely attributed to biases in federal statutory penalties for offenses involving crack versus powder cocaine (Mauer and King, 2007a). Understanding why, how, and under what contexts defendant race affects sentencing decisions is crucial to addressing such disparate outcomes. Since the early 20th century, scholars have grappled with questions about the existence …show more content…
Early research on the role of race and ethnicity in criminal sentencing was more descriptive than theoretical. The methodologies involved in early studies were weak, and when theoretical explanations were offered, they often entailed unsophisticated notions of individual prejudice and racial discrimination. For example, Thorsten Sellin (1935) conducted simple comparisons of the average length of sentences given to black, native-born and foreign-born white male prisoners within very broad offense categories. Sellin claimed that the data revealed "the marked influence of race and nationality prejudice in the administration of justice" (p. 212). He concluded that, in light of the prejudice against blacks and foreign born within the society at large, "it would be denying to the judge the ordinary attributes of human nature to assume that he could render justice free from all preconceptions"