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Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences

Bibliographic Data

ID10172882
AuthorsM Marit Rehavi (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), Sonja B Starr (University of Michigan)
Year2014
Volume122
Issue6
Pages1320-1354
Publication date2014-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Political Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3808 • E-ISSN: 1537-534X
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/677255
OpenAlexW2101681608
LanguageEN
Citations received121
References cited33

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

Ceteris paribus · Criminology · Demographic economics · Economics · Logistic regression · Odds · Political science · Statistics · White (mutation · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Mathematics · Psychology

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Unique citing works121
Citations per year12,1
Citation span2016 - 2026 (11)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 118
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