Equal Justice

Abstract

Empirical analysis of the disproportionate application of carceral punishment has traditionally targeted race and class inequality while omitting noncitizens as a systematically disadvantaged population within the criminal justice system. Of the limited extant literature on this issue, nearly all have examined overall incarceration odds while failing to account for prison alternative eligibility, inaccurately measuring judicial discretion. Likewise, none have disaggregated noncitizens across nationality, an oversight that implicitly assuming that all noncitizens are equal recipients of discrimination, likely suppressing noncitizen disadvantage. Finally, these studies often fail to include contextual measures in their analyses. Using data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC)’s Monitoring of Federal Sentences from 1999 to 2013, this study examines case-, district-, and cross-level effects of citizenship status, documentation status, and nationality on incarceration odds, prison alternatives, and sentence length for federal drug offenders. The results of this study support the hypothesis that noncitizens receive more severe sentencing outcomes than U.S. citizens, Mexican noncitizens receive more severe outcomes compared to those from other countries, and undocumented noncitizens receive more punitive outcomes, though these findings vary across districts. However, counter to minority threat theory, noncitizen (offender) populations do not appear to influence incarceration outcomes for noncitizen offenders in the projected direction.

The Noncitizen Penalty in U.S. Federal Courts: Differences in Punishment by Region of Citizenship

“…Studies have found evidence of greater sentence severity for noncitizens compared with citizens (Light et al 2014), particularly in areas with growing immigrant populations (Wu and D’Angelo 2014). Support for this application of group threat has been inconsistent, however (for findings contrary to this aspect of group threat theory, see Feldmeyer et al 2015; Holland 2018), and evidence suggests that harsh punishment of Hispanic immigrants does not always materialize, especially in places where Hispanic immigration has historically been high (Ulmer and Parker 2020).…”

Business Dominance in the “People’s Court”: An Empirical Assessment of Business Activity in the Toronto Small Claims Court

“…175 Future research should consider the reform of the default judgment application and approval process and consider issues such as proof of service, 176 proof of liability, 177 affidavit evidence, and judicial oversight. 178 Modifications must evenly balance the efficiency needs of creditors with protective measures for debtors and thereby build confidence in court debt collection systems.…”