Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-fnpn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T01:30:04.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

(Un)anticipated Effects of Sentencing Reform on the Disparate Treatment of Defendants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

John Wooldredge ,
Timothy Griffin  and
Fritz Rauschenberg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite concerns over racial disparities in imprisonment across the United States, little empirical attention has been paid to how changing the structure of sentencing might affect levels of disparity. This article examines whether Ohio's shift to determinate sentencing corresponded with significant changes in legal and extralegal effects on case outcomes, both generally and differentially for African American and white defendants. Bilevel analyses of felony defendants from 24 jurisdictions reveal relatively few substantive changes in these effects over time. Some changes involved reductions in race-related disparities (e.g., in the severity of charges convicted on), with others reflecting increased disparity (e.g., higher imprisonment likelihoods for African Americans). Findings underscore a modest link between restructured sentencing and actual case outcomes overall, with some relatively mixed effects on levels of disparity.

Type
Punishment in the Twentieth-Century United States
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 835 - 874
Copyright
© 2005 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

Thanks to Travis Pratt for assisting in data collection, and to the anonymous manuscript reviewers for their helpful comments. Supported under award No. 98-CE-VX-0015 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.

References

Albonetti, Celesta (1990) “Race and the Probability of Pleading Guilty,” 6 J. of Quantitative Criminology 315–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albonetti, Celesta (1991) “An Integration of Theories to Explain Judicial Discretion,” 38 Social Problems 247–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albonetti, Celesta (1997) “Sentencing Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Effects of Defendant Characteristics, Guilty Pleas, and Departures on Sentence Outcomes for Drug Offenses, 1991–1992,” 31 Law & Society Rev. 789–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albonetti, Celesta (1999) “The Avoidance of Punishment: A Legal-Bureaucratic Model of Suspended Sentences in Federal White-Collar Cases Prior to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,” 78 Social Forces 303–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alschuler, Albert (1978) “Sentencing Reform and Prosecutorial Power: A Critique of Recent Proposals for Fixed and Presumptive Sentencing,” in Determinate Sentencing: Reform or Regression. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Atkinson, David, & Newman, Dale (1970) “Judicial Attitudes and Defendant Attributes: Some Consequences for Municipal Court Decision-Making,” 19 J. of Public Law 68–87.Google Scholar
Bales, William (1997) The Impact of the 1994 and 1995 Structured Sentencing Policies in Florida. Tallahassee, FL: Bureau of Research and Data Analysis.Google Scholar
Black, Donald (1976) The Behavior of Law. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Britt, Chester (2000) “Social Context and Racial Disparities in Punishment Decisions,” 17 Justice Q. 707–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryk, Anthony, & Raudenbush, Stephen (1992) Hierarchical Linear Models for Social and Behavioral Research: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Chiricos, Ted, & Bales, William (1991) “Unemployment and Punishment: An Empirical Assessment,” 29 Criminology 701–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiricos, Ted, & Crawford, Charles (1995) “Race and Imprisonment: A Contextual Assessment of the Evidence,” in Hawkins, D., ed., Ethnicity, Race and Crime: Perspectives across Time and Place. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Clogg, Clifford, et al. (1995) “Statistical Methods for Comparing the Regression Coefficients Between Models,” 100 American J. of Sociology 1261–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Kenneth (1971) Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Daly, Kathleen (1987) “Discrimination in the Criminal Courts: Family, Gender, and the Problem of Equal Treatment,” 66 Social Forces 152–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, Kathleen (1989) “Neither Conflict nor Labeling nor Paternalism will Suffice: Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Family in Criminal Court Decisions,” 35 Crime and Delinquency 135–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, Kathleen (1990) “Reflections on Feminist Legal Thought,” 17 Social Justice 7–24.Google Scholar
Daly, Kathleen (1994) Gender, Crime, and Punishment. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Eck, John, & Maguire, Edward (2000) “Have Changes in Policing Reduced Violent Crime?,” in Blumstein, A. & Wallman, J., eds., The Crime Drop in America. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Eisenstein, James, & Jacob, Herbert (1978) Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Courts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Farrington, David, & Morris, Allison (1983) “Sex, Sentencing, and Reconviction,” 23 British J. of Criminology 229–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feeley, Malcolm (1979) The Process is the Punishment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Flemming, Roy, et al. (1992) The Craft of Justice: Work and Politics in Criminal Court Communities. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankel, Marvin (1972) Criminal Sentences: Law without Order. New York: Hill and Way.Google Scholar
Griffin, Timothy, & Wooldredge, John (2001) “Judicial Reactions to Sentencing Reform in Ohio,” 47 Crime and Delinquency 491–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagan, John (1974) “Extra-Legal Attributes and Criminal Sentencing: An Assessment of a Sociological Viewpoint,” 8 Law & Society Rev. 357–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagan, John, et al. (1979) “Ceremonial Justice: Crime and Punishment in a Loosely Coupled System,” 58 Social Forces 506–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagan, John, et al. (1980) “The Differential Sentencing of White-Collar Offenders in Ten Federal District Courts,” 45 American Sociological Rev. 302–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawkins, Darnell (1981) “Trends in Black-White Imprisonment: Changing Conceptions of Race or Changing Patterns of Social Control,” 24 Crime & Social Justice 187–209.Google Scholar
Heckman, James, & Robb, Richard (1985) “Alternative Methods for Evaluating the Impact of Interventions,” in Heckman, J. & Singer, B., eds., Longitudinal Analysis of Labor Market Data. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Malcolm, & Daudistel, Howard (1984) “Race and Justice in the Southwest: The Sentencing of Anglo, Black, and Hispanic Defendants,” 65 Social Science Q. 265–77.Google Scholar
Kautt, Paula (2002) “Location, Location, Location: Interdistrict and Intercircuit Variation in Sentencing Outcomes for Federal Drug-Trafficking Offenses,” 19 Justice Q. 633–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleck, Gary (1985) “Life Support for Ailing Hypotheses: Modes of Summarizing the Evidence for Racial Discrimination in Sentencing,” 9 Law & Human Behavior 271–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klepper, Steven, et al. (1983) “Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System: A Critical Appraisal of the Literature,” in Blumstein, A. et al., eds., Research in Sentencing: The Search for Reform, Vol. II. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Kramer, John, & Steffensmeier, Darrell (1993) “Race and Imprisonment Decisions,” 34 Sociological Q. 357–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, John, & Ulmer, Jeffrey (1996) “Sentencing Disparity and Departure from Guidelines,” 13 Justice Q. 81–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaFree, Gary (1985) “Adversarial and Non-Adversarial Justice: A Comparison of Guilty Pleas and Trials,” 23 Criminology 289–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lagoy, Stephen, et al. (1979) “The Prosecutorial Function and Its Relation to Determinate Sentencing Structures,” in McDonald, W., ed., The Prosecutor, Vol. 2. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Mauer, Marc (1999) Race to Incarcerate. New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
McCoy, Candace (1984) “Determinate Sentencing, Plea Bargaining Bans, and Hydraulic Discretion in California,” 9 The Justice System J. 256–75.Google Scholar
Melossi, Dario (1989) “Fifty Years Later, Punishment and Social Structure in Comparative Analysis,” 13 Contemporary Crises 311–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miethe, Terance (1987) “Charging and Plea Bargaining Practices under Determinate Sentencing: An Investigation of the Hydraulic Displacement of Discretion,” 78 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 155–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miethe, Terance, & Moore, Charles (1985) “Racial Differences in Criminal Processing: The Consequences of Model Selection on Conclusions About Differential Treatment,” 27 Sociological Q. 217–37.Google Scholar
Moore, Charles, & Miethe, Terance (1986) “Regulated and Unregulated Sentencing Decisions: An Analysis of First-Year Practices Under Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines,” 20 Law & Society Rev. 253–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, Martha (1987) “Economic Inequality and Discrimination in Sentencing,” 65 Social Forces 746–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, Martha, & Hagan, John (1979) “Private and Public Trouble: Prosecutors and the Allocation of Court Resources,” 26 Social Problems 439–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, Martha, & Talarico, Susette (1987) The Social Contexts of Criminal Sentencing. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nardulli, Peter, et al. (1988) Tenor of Justice: Criminal Courts and the Guilty Plea Process. Urbana: Univ. of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (1982) California Summit Seminar on Prison Crowding–Final Report. San Francisco: Crocker National Bank Foundation.Google Scholar
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (1996) National Assessment of Structured Sentencing. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Assistance.Google Scholar
Nelson, James (1992) “Hidden Disparities in Case Processing: New York State, 1985–1986,” 20 J. of Criminal Justice 181–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nobiling, Tracy, et al. (1998) “A Tale of Two Counties: Unemployment and Sentence Severity,” 15 Justice Q. 459–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission (1996) Felony Sentencing Manual. Columbus, OH: Ohio Governor's Office of Justice Services.Google Scholar
Ohio Governor's Task Force (1990) Ohio's African-American Males: A Call to Action, Volume 2. Columbus, OH: Ohio Governor's Office of Justice Services.Google Scholar
Packer, Herbert (1968) The Limits of the Criminal Sanction. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parent, D., et al. (1996) Key Legislative Issues: The Impact of Sentencing Guidelines. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice.Google Scholar
Petersilia, Joan, & Turner, Susan (1985) Guideline-Based Justice: The Implications for Racial Minorities. Santa Monica: RAND.Google Scholar
Pope, Carl (1975) Sentencing of California Felony Offenders. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Quinney, Richard (2001) The Social Reality of Crime. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Raudenbush, Stephen, et al. (2000) HLM5: Hierarchical Linear and Nonlinear Modeling. Chicago: Scientific Software International.Google Scholar
Rathke, Stephen (1982) “Plea Negotiating under the Sentencing Guidelines,” 5 Hamline Law Rev. 271–91.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert, & Wilson, William Julius (1995) “Race, Crime and Urban Inequality,” in Hagan, J. & Peterson, R., eds., Crime and Inequality. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, Joachim (1992) “Law That Does Not Fit Society: Sentencing Guidelines as a Neoclassical Reaction to the Dilemmas of Substantivized Law,” 97 American J. of Sociology 1346–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheldon, Randall G. (2001) Controlling the Dangerous Classes: A Critical Introduction to the History of Criminal Justice. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Smith, Kate, & Cabranes, Jose (1998) A Fear of Judging: Sentencing Guidelines in the Federal Courts. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Spohn, Cassia (1990) “The Sentencing Decisions of Black and White Judges: Some Expected and Unexpected Similarities,” 24 Law & Society Rev. 1197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spohn, Cassia, & Holleran, David (2000) “The Imprisonment Penalty Paid By Young, Unemployed Black and Hispanic Male Offenders,” 38 Criminology 281–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spohn, Cassia, et al. (1982) “The Effect of Race on Sentencing: A Re-Examination of an Unsettled Question,” 16 Law & Society Rev. 72–88.Google Scholar
Steffensmeier, Darrell, & Demuth, Stephen (2000) “Ethnicity and Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts: Who Is Punished More Harshly? 65 American Sociological Rev. 705–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffensmeier, Darrell, et al. (1993) “Gender and Imprisonment Decisions,” 31 Criminology 411–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffensmeier, Darrell, et al. (1998) “The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Criminal Sentencing: The Punishment Cost of Being Young, Black, and Male,” 36 Criminology 763–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolzenberg, Lisa, & D'Allessio, Stewart (1994) Sentencing and Unwarranted Disparity: An Assessment of the Long-Term Impact of Sentencing Guidelines in Minnesota. Santa Monica: RAND.Google Scholar
Swigert, Victoria, & Farrell, Ronald (1977) “Normal Homicides and the Law,” 42 American Sociological Rev. 16–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, Randall, & Zingraff, Matthew (1981) “Detecting Sentencing Disparity: Some Problems and Evidence,” 86 American J. of Sociology 869–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonry, Michael (1996) Sentencing Matters. New York: Oxford.Google Scholar
Tonry, Michael, & Coffee, John (1987) “Enforcing Sentencing Guidelines: Plea Bargaining and Review Mechanisms,” in Von Hirsch, A. et al., eds., The Sentencing Commission and its Guidelines. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Ulmer, Jeffery (1997) Social Worlds of Sentencing: Court Communities under Sentencing Guidelines. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Ulmer, Jeffery, & Johnson, Brian (2004) “Sentencing in Context: A Multilevel Analysis,” 42 Criminology 137–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulmer, Jeffrey, & Kramer, John (1996) “Court Communities Under Sentencing Guidelines: Dilemmas of Formal Rationality and Sentencing Disparity,” 34 Criminology 383–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unnever, James, et al. (1980) “Race Differences in Criminal Sentencing,” 21 Sociological Q. 197–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, Anthony (1987) “The Sexual Stratification Hypothesis and Sexual Assault in Light of Changing Conceptions of Race,” 25 Criminology 153–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisburd, David, et al. (1991) Crimes of the Middle Class. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, Stanton, et al. (1982) “Sentencing the White-Collar Offender: Rhetoric and Reality,” 47 American Sociological Rev. 641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, William Julius (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wooldredge, John, et al. (2002) Final Report: The Impact of Ohio's Senate Bill 2 on Sentencing Disparities. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice.Google Scholar
Zatz, Marjorie (1985) “Pleas, Priors, and Prison: Racial/Ethnic Differences in Sentencing,” 14 Social Science Research 169–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zatz, Marjorie (2000) “The Convergence of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class on Court Decisionmaking: Looking Toward the 21st Century,” in Criminal Justice 2000, Vol. 3: Policies, Processes and Decisions of the Criminal Justice System, Compilation by National Institute of Justice. Washington, D.C.: Office of Justice Programs.Google Scholar
Zatz, Marjorie, & Hagan, John (1985) “Crime, Time, and Punishment: An Exploration of Selection Bias in Sentencing Research,” 1 J. of Quantitative Criminology 103–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar