Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T01:01:33.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Race on Sentencing: A Re-Examination of An Unsettled Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Cassia Spohn ,
John Gruhl  and
Susan Welch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the possible effect of race on sentencing decisions is a much-studied question, even recent studies suffer from methodological problems. This paper attempts to correct these problems by using a large number of cases and a large number of offenses, by dividing the sentencing decision into two separate decisions, by using an appropriate scale to measure sentence severity, by including controls for relevant legal and extra-legal factors, and by using multivariate analysis. Our major findings are that race does not have a direct effect on sentence severity, but that blacks are more likely than whites to be incarcerated.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , 1982 , pp. 71 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 The Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We would like to thank the Research Council of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University Committee on Research of the University of Nebraska-Omaha for funding for this project. We would also like to express our appreciation to Al DeBoer and Steven Henderson for their assistance with data management and to officials in the court administrator's office in “Metro City.” David R. Johnson provided excellent methodological advice, and Lorraine Davison, A. J. DePierre, and Mark Dawson ably assisted with the coding.

References

ARNOLD, William R. (1971) “Race and Ethnicity Relative to Other Factors in Juvenile Court Dispositions,” 77 American Journal of Sociology 211.Google Scholar
ASHER, Herbert B. (1976) Causal Modeling. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, series No. 07-003. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
BAAB, George William and William Royal, FURGESON Jr. (1967) “Texas Sentencing Practices: A Statistical Study,” 45 Texas Law Review 471.Google Scholar
BERNSTEIN, Ilene Nagel, KELLY, William R., and Patricia A., DOYLE (1977) “Societal Reaction to Deviants: The Case of Criminal Defendants,” 42 American Sociological Review 743.Google Scholar
BLACK, Charles L. (1974) Capital Punishment: The Inevitability of Caprice and Mistake. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
BURKE, Peter J. and Austin T., TURK (1975) “Factors Affecting Postarrest Decisions: A Model for Analysis,” 22 Social Problems 313.Google Scholar
CHIRICOS, Theodore G. and Gordon P., WALDO (1975) “Socioeconomic Status and Criminal Sentencing: An Empirical Assessment of a Conflict Proposition,” 40 American Sociological Review 753.Google Scholar
CLARKE, Stevens H. and Gary G., KOCH (1976) “The Influence of Income and Other Factors on Whether Criminal Defendants Go to Prison,” 11 Law & Society Review 57.Google Scholar
COHEN, Lawrence E. and James R., KLUEGEL (1978) “Determinants of Juvenile Court Dispositions,” 43 American Sociological Review 162.Google Scholar
COOK, Beverly B. (1973) “Sentencing Behavior of Federal Judges: Draft Cases-1972,” 42 University of Cincinnati Law Review 597.Google Scholar
EISENSTEIN, James and Herbert, JACOB (1977) Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Courts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
ENGLE, Charles Donald (1971) Criminal Justice in the City: A Study of Sentence Severity and Variation in the Philadelphia Criminal Court System. Ph.D. dissertation, Temple University.Google Scholar
FARRELL, Ronald A. and Victoria Lynn, SWIGERT (1978) “Prior Offense Record as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy,” 12 Law & Society Review 437.Google Scholar
GIBSON, James L. (1978) “Race as a Determinant of Criminal Sentences: A Methodological Critique and a Case Study,” 12 Law & Society Review 455.Google Scholar
GREENWOOD, Peter C, WILDHORN, Sorrel, POGGIO, Eugene C., STRUMWASSER, Michael J., and Peter, DELEON (1973) Prosecution of Adult Felony Defendants in Los Angeles County: A Policy Perspective. Santa Monica: Rand.Google Scholar
GRUHL, John, Cassia, SPOHN, and Susan, WELCH (1981) “Women as Policy Makers: The Case of Trial Judges,” 25 American Journal of Political Science 308.Google Scholar
HAGAN, John (1974) “Extra-Legal Attributes and Criminal Sentencing: An Assessment of a Sociological Viewpoint,” 8 Law & Society Review 357.Google Scholar
HAGAN, John and Ilene N., BERNSTEIN (1979) “Conflict in Context: The Sanctioning of Draft Resisters, 1963-76,” 27 Social Problems 109.Google Scholar
HEISE, David R. (1972) “Employing Nominal Variables, Induced Variables, and Block Variables in Path Analysis,” 1 Sociological Methods and Research 147.Google Scholar
KRUTSCHNITT, Candace (1980) “Social Status and Sentences of Female Offenders,” 15 Law & Society Review 247.Google Scholar
LEVIN, Martin A. (1977) Urban Politics and Criminal Courts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
LIZOTTE, Alan J. (1978) “Extra-Legal Factors in Chicago's Criminal Courts: Testing the Conflict Model of Criminal Justice,” 25 Social Problems 564.Google Scholar
LOTZ, Roy and John D., HEWITT (1977) “The Influence of Legally Irrelevant Factors on Felony Sentencing,” 47 Sociological Inquiry 39.Google Scholar
NAGEL, Stuart S. (1969) The Legal Process from a Behavioral Perspective. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
NAGEL, Stuart S. and Marian, NEEF (1977) The Legal Process: Modeling the System. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
POPE, Carl E. (1975) Sentencing of California Felony Offenders. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Criminal Justice Research Center.Google Scholar
SCARPITTI, Frank and Richard, STEPHENSON (1971) “Juvenile Court Dispositions: Factors in the Decision Making Process, 17 Crime and Delinquency 142.Google Scholar
SELLIN, Thorsten (1928) “The Negro Criminal: A Statistical Note,” 140 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 52.Google Scholar
SPOHN, Cassia, Susan, WELCH, and John, GRUHL (1981) Women Defendants in Court: The Interaction between Sex and Race in Convicting and Sentencing. Unpublished paper.Google Scholar
SUTTON, L. Paul. (1978a) Federal Sentencing Patterns: A Study of Geographical Variations. Albany, NY: Criminal Justice Research Center.Google Scholar
SUTTON, L. Paul (1978b) Variations in Federal Criminal Sentences: A Statistical Assessment at the National Level. Albany, NY: Criminal Justice Research Center.Google Scholar
SWIGERT, Victoria Lynn and Ronald A., FARRELL (1977) “Normal Homicides and the Law,” 42 American Sociological Review 16.Google Scholar
TERRY, Robert (1967) “Discrimination in the Handling of Juvenile Offenders by Social-Control Agencies,” 4 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 218.Google Scholar
THOMAS, Charles W. and Robin J., CAGE (1977) “The Effect of Social Characteristics on Juvenile Court Dispositions,” 18 Sociological Quarterly 237.Google Scholar
THORNBERRY, Terence P. (1973) “Race, Socioeconomic Status and Sentencing in the Juvenile Justice System,” 64 Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 90.Google Scholar
TIFFANY, Lawrence P., Yakov, AVICHAI, and Geoffrey W., PETERS (1975) “A Statistical Analysis of Sentencing in Federal Courts: Defendants Convicted After Trial, 1967-1968,” 4 Journal of Legal Studies 369.Google Scholar
UHLMAN, Thomas M. (1977) “The Impact of Defendant Race in Trial Court Sentencing Decisions,” in Gardiner, John A. (ed.), Public Law and Public Policy. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
UNNEVER, James D., FRAZIER, Charles E., and John C., HENRETTA (1980) “Race Differences in Criminal Sentencing,” 21 The Sociological Quarterly 197.Google Scholar
WELLFORD, Charles (1975) “Labelling Theory and Criminology: An Assessment,” 22 Social Problems 332.Google Scholar