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Using data on cases of intimate assault, we offer a relatively rare examination of disparities in court dispositions across multiple stages of case processing. In this context we introduce the theoretical and empirical relevance of considering the characteristics of defendants' neighborhoods as possible extralegal influences on disposition severity. Bilevel analyses of 2,948 males arrested for misdemeanor assaults on intimates in Cincinnati reveal significant disparities based on neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) in decisions related to charging, full prosecution, conviction, and incarceration, even when adjusting for compositional differences in defendant's race and SES across neighborhoods. Implications are discussed for the broader literature on extralegal disparities.

The effects of court dispositions on rearrest for domestic violence was examined for a sample of adults arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Ohio. Arrestees were tracked for one year after their sentences, if any, had been served. Qualitatively, more severe sentences (e.g., jail combined with probation versus either probation or jail) corresponded with lower recidivism likelihoods. Also, these sentences appeared most effective for persons with greater stakes in conformity (i.e., those less transient in terms of residence and employment and those living in neighborhoods with higher socioeconomic status).

Researchers examining court dispositions and domestic violence recidivism have argued that disposition effectiveness varies by offender characteristics. We extended this research with analyses of 3,662persons arrested for misdemeanor assaults on intimates in Hamilton County, Ohio. The incidence, prevalence, and time to rearrest are examined for arrestees with no filed charges, subsequently dropped charges, court-mandated treatment, probation, jail, and split sentences. No filed charges and probation correspond with significant differences in all outcomes across the entire sample. Moreover, every disposition coincides with differences in rearrest for particular subgroups of arrestees (distinguished by violent histories, substance abuse, cohabitation, race, education, residential stability, and characteristics of neighborhood populations).

Addressing the methodological shortcomings of extant research on the racial invariance thesis, race-specific rates of intimate assault are examined acron census tracts in Hamilton County, Ohio. W e extend Miles-Doan 's (1998) approach to examining neighborhood structural effects on intimate assault rates in order to test the racial invariance thesis. Findings reveal comparable effects of neighborhood disadvantage and population age structure on assault rates for African-American males and white males, yet a stronger effect of "disinvestment" (in marriage and in neighborhoods) on rates for African-Americans. These results conflict with previous city-level analyses demonstrating stronger structural effects on other violent crime rates for whites.

Scholars have argued that African-American men accused of violently victimizing whites receive especially harsh treatment in court. This thesis was tested with samples of felony defendants processed in Ohio courts before and after the implementation of sentencing guidelines. During the preguideline period only, African-American men accused of victimizing whites were less likely than other defendants to plead guilty in exchange for reduced charges and/or sentences, and African-American men incarcerated for violent crimes against whites received longer sentences than other incarcerated offenders. During the postguideline period only, by contrast, the odds of pleading guilty in exchange for reduced charges were actually higher for African-American men accused of victimizing whites. African-American male prison terms significantly declined relative to incarcerated whites from the preguideline to the postguideline period. The interaction effect of defendantvictim race was significant during the preguideline period, not significant in the postguideline period, and significantly changed over time.

Empirical studies of judicial effects on the use of imprisonment have yet to estimate changes in these effects under more-structured sentencing schemes. Findings are presented from a multilevel analysis of whether the implementation of Ohio's presumptive guidelines in 1996 was effective for reducing inter-judge differences in the distribution of non-suspended prison sentences and in defendant-level effects on imprisonment. These data for seven urban courts provide a unique opportunity to estimate changes in judicial effects across sentencing regimes. Results suggest that Ohio's guidelines were successful for reducing judicial effects on sentencing based on judges' tenure on the bench, prosecutorial experience, and caseload composition.S cholarly interest in judicial effects on sentencing (such as whether the use of imprisonment for convicted defendants varies by a judge's sex, race, years on the bench, etc.) has generated a number of studies on the subject (e.

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