User:Aiden Mclain/Race in the United States criminal justice system

'''I plan to add additional information and sources to further reinforce and legitimize the information in the article. I am going to use new sources as a means of providing additional support to the article.'''


 * I plan to confirm that racial disparities have been seen throughout history.
 * I plan to add sources that prove minorities and people of color have been the main targets when it comes to unfair arrests and sentencing.
 * I plan to add examples in the history of racial disparities in criminal justice that have not been discussed in this article.

Race and sentencing

Over the past 70 years, researching the impact that racial identity has on sentencing outcomes has been at the forefront of criminology. But, many studies contradict each other. Some studies found that minorities receive harsher sentences than Whites, while others found that minorities received lighter punishments.[99] In a study done from 2011 to 2014, that followed 302 men and women in drug-related convictions found that Blacks were actually convicted at a lower rate than other ethnicities, but had 2.5 more incarcerations on average.[100]

A 2011 study that examined violent crime trends between 1980 and 2008 found that racial imbalances between arrest and incarceration levels were both small and comparably sized across the study period. The authors argued that the prior studies had been confounded by not separating Hispanics from Whites.[101] Another recent study in 2012 raises a different concern, showing that Hispanics and Blacks receive considerably longer sentences for the same or lesser offenses on average than White offenders with equal or greater criminal records.[102][103] American and Hispanic women are less likely to act according to common stereotypes- e.g. dependence, chastity). (Gilkes 1983, Fishman 1998, Rome 1998 in Brennan 2006)

A 2012 University of Michigan Law School study found that African Americans are given longer federal sentences even when factoring prior criminal records, and that African American jail sentences tend to be roughly 10% longer than White jail sentences for the same crimes.[104] The study found that federal prosecutors of African American and Hispanic defendants are almost twice as likely to push for mandatory minimum sentences, leading to longer sentences and disparities in incarceration rates for federal offenses.[104]

Numerous studies have been conducted to examine whether race is associated with sentence length or severity. An early study by Joan Petersilia found that in California, Michigan, and Texas, Hispanics and Blacks tended to receive harsher sentences than Whites convicted of comparable crimes and with similar criminal records.[105] A 1998 meta-analysis found that the relationship between race and sentencing in the U.S. was not statistically significant, but that the use of different methods of classifying race may also mask the true race-sentencing relationship.[106] A study published the same year, which examined sentencing data from Pennsylvania, found that young Black men were sentenced more harshly than were members of any other age-race-gender combination.[107] Similarly, a 2005 meta-analysis found that Blacks tended to receive harsher sentences than did Whites, and that this effect was "statistically significant but small and highly variable."[108]

A 2006 study found that Blacks and Hispanics received about 10% longer sentences than Whites, even after controlling for all possible relevant characteristics, with regard to final offenses. However, when the researchers examined base offenses instead, the disparity was reversed. The study concludes that the racial disparity in sentencing comes from the different racial groups abilities to pay fines and other factors which are poorly accounted for (wealth)[109] A 2010 analysis of U.S. Sentencing Commission data found that Blacks received the longest sentences of any ethnicity within each gender group (specifically, their sentence lengths were on average 91 months for men and 36 months for women).[110] A 2011 study found that Black women with lighter perceived skin tones tended to receive more lenient sentences and serve less of them behind bars.[111] A 2012 study looking at felony case data from Cook County, Illinois found that the sentencing disparity between Blacks and Whites varied significantly from judge to judge, which the authors state provides "support for the model where at least some judges treat defendants differently based on their race."[112] A 2013 report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that Black men's prison sentences were on average almost 20% longer than those of their White counterparts who were convicted of similar crimes.[113]

A 2015 study focusing primarily on Black and White men in Georgia uncovered that, on average, Black men received sentences that were 4.25% higher than Whites for the same type of crime.[114] However, the same study found a larger disparity in sentence length among medium- and dark-skinned Blacks, who received 4.8% longer sentences than Whites, whereas light-skinned Blacks received sentences of about the same average length as those of Whites.[115] It is also documented that, in the United States as a whole, Latinos, African Americans, and American Indians are far more frequently convicted than White Americans, and they receive harsher and longer punishments than their White counterparts for committing the same crimes.[116]

According to a 2001 study, Hispanics and Blacks receive an average sentencing of 54.1 and 64.1 months, respectively, while Whites receive an average of 32.1 months.[117] 77,236 offenders, sentenced under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984,[117] were evaluated to control for extraneous variables other than race, but these findings remain relevant despite the fact that the offenders committed the same offense and received sentencing from the same district court. This finding is consistent across jurisdictions in multiple states within the U.S., and direct discrimination was found to be more prominent at the federal level.[118] There are many theorists who attempt to explain why these disparities exist. Racial stereotypes and related factors such as socioeconomic status may influence the court's perception of the individual as well as its decision-making.[119] For instance, judges may perceive minority defendants as unable to afford fines or probation fees. Consequently, they resort to jail term as opposed to community corrections sentence.

A 2014 study revealed that judges subconsciously utilize the assumption that minorities are more likely to recidivate to issue a longer sentencing that will prevent the defendants from reengaging in criminal offenses.[120] Additionally, theorists advocate that minorities are stereotypically identified as more violent and guilty than Whites.[121] This perception encourages judges to believe that they are preventing the onset of future crimes by imprisoning the defendants for a longer duration. This preconception that minorities are unable to economically support themselves warns the judicial system that they are more likely to resort to criminal activity in order to gain access to money or other objectives. Because these characteristics are less associated with White offenders, judges unintentionally treat the two differently.[122] The short amount of time that judges share with defendants in court is insufficient in establishing an objective understanding. As a result, judges may unconsciously utilize the factors that they are given, such as the color of the skin, to construct an impression. Prejudgments on the basis of race influence perception of responsibility and threat to the society.

Research also suggests that there is discrimination by the judicial system, which contributes to a higher number of convictions and unfavorable sentencing for racial minorities.[123][124][125][126][127][40][39][128][129] A 2012 study found that "(i) juries formed from all-White jury pools convict Black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than White defendants, and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one Black member."[125] Research has found evidence of in-group bias, where "Black (White) juveniles who are randomly assigned to Black (White) judges are more likely to get incarcerated (as opposed to being placed on probation), and they receive longer sentences."[127]

A 2014 study in the Journal of Political Economy found that 9% of the Black-White gap in sentencing could not be accounted for.[39] The elimination of unexplained sentencing disparities would reduce "the level of Black men in federal prison by 8,000–11,000 men [out of Black male prison population of 95,000] and save $230–$320 million per year in direct costs."[39] The majority of the unexplained sentencing disparity appears to occur at the point when prosecutors decide to bring charges carrying "mandatory minimum" sentences.[39] A 2018 paper by Alma Cohen and Crystal Yang of Harvard Law School found that "Republican-appointed judges give substantially longer prison sentences to Black offenders versus observably similar non-Black offenders compared to Democratic-appointed judges within the same district court."[130] A 2018 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that bail judges in Miami and Philadelphia were racially biased against Black defendants, as White defendants had higher rates of pretrial misconduct than Black defendants.[40]

In criminal sentencing, medium to dark-skinned African Americans are likely to receive sentences 2.6 years longer than those of Whites or light-skinned African Americans. When a White victim is involved, those with more "Black" features are likely to receive a much more severe punishment.[131] A 2018 National Bureau of Economic Research experiment found that law students, economics students and practicing lawyers who watched 3D Virtual Reality videos of court trials (where the researchers altered the race of the defendants) showed a racial bias against minorities.[132]

A 2016 report by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune found that Florida judges sentence Black defendants to far longer prison sentences than Whites with the same background.[133] For the same drug possession crimes, Blacks were sentenced to double the time of Whites.[133] Blacks were given longer sentences in 60 percent of felony cases, 68 percent of the most serious first-degree crimes, 45 percent of burglary cases and 30 percent of battery cases.[133] For third-degree felonies (the least serious types of felonies in Florida), White judges sentenced Blacks to twenty percent more time than Whites, whereas Black judges gave more balanced sentences.[133]

A 2017 report by the Marshall Project found that killings of Black men by White civilians were far more likely to be deemed "justifiable" than killings by any other combination of races, although it cautioned that the disparity may be warranted by differing circumstances and not the result of racial prejudice.[134]

A 2017 report by the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) found, "after controlling for a wide variety of sentencing factors" (such as age, education, citizenship, weapon possession and prior criminal history), that "Black male offenders received sentences on average 19.1 percent longer than similarly situated White male offenders."[42][135]

A 2018 study in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics found that judges gave longer sentences, in particular to Black defendants, after their favorite team lost a home game.[136]

A 2019 audit study found that lawyers are less likely to take on clients with Black-sounding names than White-sounding names.[137]

Race and the death penalty

Main article: Race and capital punishment in the United States

US homicide victims by race, 1980–2008[138]

US homicide convictions by race, 1980–2008[138]

Various scholars have addressed what they perceived as the systemic racial bias present in the administration of capital punishment in the United States.[139] There is also a large disparity between races when it comes to sentencing convicts to Death Row. The federal death penalty data released by the United States Department of Justice between 1995 and 2000 shows that 682 defendants were sentenced to death.[140] Out of those 682 defendants, the defendant was Black in 48% of the cases, Hispanic in 29% of the cases, and White in 20% of the cases.[3][clarification needed] 52.5% of people who were convicted of homicide in the 1980-2005 time period were Black.[141][142]

A 2016 study from the American Psychological Association, "Discrimination and Instructional Comprehension", researched how the lack of comprehension of capital penalty jury instructions, relates to death sentencing in America. This study was composed of eligible subjects, who were given the option to sentence a verdict based on their comprehension from the given instructions and their evidence. The study concluded that multiple verdicts who could not comprehend the penalty instructions, had a higher death sentence probability.[143]

Some researchers have suggested that there is a "white victim effect" in the application capital punishment in the US, which is where defendants, particularly black defendants, who kill white victims are more likely to receive the death penalty than other victim-defendant combinations (such as black victim-black defendant or black victim-white defendant), though the existence of this effect remains debated. For example, one 2014 study on the application of the death penalty in Connecticut over the period 1973–2007 found "that minority defendants who kill White victims are capitally charged at substantially higher rates than minority defendants who kill minorities... There is also strong and statistically significant evidence that minority defendants who kill Whites are more likely to end up with capital sentences than comparable cases with White defendants."[144] Conversely, another 2014 study focusing on North Carolina argued that the "white victim effect" was largely driven by confounders (such as aggravating and mitigating factors) and that controlling for these rendered the effect insignificant.[145] A similar argument was made by a 2017 study.[146]