The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Sexon Sentencing Outcomes

Brennan, Pauline K.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0245-0_17

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…And, findings of preferential treatment for White offenders (or more punitive treatment for minorities) may be conditioned by gender. Thus, as other researchers have warned, a failure to consider the intersection of gender and race/ ethnicity may result in inaccurate conclusions about the effects of these variables on sentencing outcomes (Brennan, 2002(Brennan, , 2009Brennan & Spohn, 2009;Crew, 1991;Daly & Tonry, 1997;Steffensmeier & Demuth, 2006;Steffensmeier et al, 1998;Steffensmeier, Kramer, & Streifel, 1993;Spohn & Beichner, 2000;Young, 1986).…”

Section: Prior Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although there are now a number of studies that focus on the issue of racial and/or ethnic disparities in the sentencing of drug offenders, overall results are far from conclusive (for a detailed review of this literature see Brennan & Spohn, 2008, 2009. Moreover, most of these examinations focus solely on the additive effects of offender race/ethnicity and gender; few researchers have considered whether findings of preferential treatment for White offenders may be conditioned by gender or whether findings of leniency for female offenders may be conditioned by race/ethnicity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Courts

Spohn

Brennan

2011

Race and Justice

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Research on the federal sentencing process has demonstrated that, the sentencing guidelines notwithstanding, outcomes are affected by legally irrelevant offender characteristics. Using data on offenders convicted of drug offenses in three U.S. district courts, we build on and extend this research. We examine the main and interactive effects of offender race/ethnicity and gender on the likelihood of receiving a downward departure for providing substantial assistance and on the magnitude of the sentence discount given to offenders who receive these departures. Our findings indicate the Black and Hispanic male offenders are treated more harshly than all other offenders. Our findings also indicate that there are no differences between female offenders of any race/ethnicity and White male offenders or between the three groups of female offenders. We suggest that prosecutors and judges use the discretion inherent in the substantial assistance departure to circumvent the guidelines and to fashion more appropriate sentences for sympathetic and salvageable offenders.

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Section: Prior Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Courts

Spohn

Brennan

2011

Race and Justice

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“…And, findings of preferential treatment for white offenders (or more punitive treatment for minorities) may be conditioned by sex. Thus, as other researchers have warned, a failure to consider the intersection of sex and race/ethnicity may result in inaccurate conclusions about the effects of these variables on sentencing outcomes (Brennan 2002(Brennan , 2009Crew 1991;Daly and Tonry 1997;Steffensmeier and Demuth 2006;Steffensmeier et al 1993Steffensmeier et al , 1998Spohn and Beichner 2000;Young 1986). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Sex on Sentence Length Decisions in Federal Courts

Brennan

Spohn

2009

Race Soc Probl

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The current study examined the main and interactive effects of offender race/ethnicity and sex on sentence length decisions for drug offenders convicted in three federal courts located in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska. The additive model showed that females received shorter prison sentences than similarly situated male offenders, but there were no differences between white offenders and minority offenders. However, when the data were partitioned by sex, black males were found to receive lengthier prison terms than white males. There were no differences between white males and Hispanic males, and white females were treated no differently than either black or Hispanic females. Moreover, when the data were partitioned by race/ethnicity, white females were treated no differently than white males. However, black females received shorter sentences than black males and Hispanic females received shorter sentences than Hispanic males. Further analyses showed that black and Hispanic males also received longer sentences than white females and that black males received longer sentences than all other offenders (with the exception of Hispanic male offenders). These findings mesh with those gleaned from other sentencing studies, although they are at odds with theoretical notions that leniency at the sentencing stage is reserved only for white women.

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“…The more interesting question is, “When does the particular social characteristic matter—under what circumstances, for whom, and in interaction with what other factors?” (Wonders, 1996: 617). For example, a growing body of research suggests that findings of leniency for female offenders may be conditioned by race/ethnicity and that findings of preferential treatment for White offenders (or more punitive treatment for minorities) may be conditioned by sex (for a review of this research, see Brennan, 2009). Thus, a failure to consider the intersection of sex and race/ethnicity may result in inaccurate conclusions about the effects of these variables on sentencing outcomes.…”

Section: Advisory Guidelines and Unwarranted Disparitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Unwarranted disparity in the wake of the Booker/Fanfan decision

Spohn

2011

Criminology &Amp; Public Policy

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The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Sexon Sentencing Outcomes

Cited by 6 publications

References 77 publications

The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Courts

The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Gender on Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Courts

The Joint Effects of Offender Race/Ethnicity and Sex on Sentence Length Decisions in Federal Courts

Unwarranted disparity in the wake of the Booker/Fanfan decision

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