Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rehavi, M. Marit; Starr, Sonja B.
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/677255
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 1320-1354
• 关键词: prosecutorial discretion; judicial discretion; COURTS; regressions; GUIDELINES; variables; DECISION; police; SYSTEM; judges

摘要

Using rich data linking federal cases from arrest through to sentencing, we find that initial case and defendant characteristics, including arrest offense and criminal history, can explain most of the large raw racial disparity in federal sentences, but significant gaps remain. Across the distribution, blacks receive sentences that are almost 10 percent longer than those of comparable whites arrested for the same crimes. Most of this disparity can be explained by prosecutors' initial charging decisions, particularly the filing of charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences. Ceteris paribus, the odds of black arrestees facing such a charge are 1.75 times higher than those of white arrestees.