NCJ Number
212461
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2005 Pages: 35-53
Date Published
2005
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined judicial bail decision disparity by ethnicity in one midwestern jurisdiction.
Abstract
The relationship between ethnicity and bail decisions is an important issue for investigation because the provision of reasonable bail integrally impacts the defendant’s ability to participate in their own defense. Previous research investigating ethnicity and criminal justice outcomes have tended to lump all non-White ethnicities into one category, effectively ignoring differences between non-White ethnic groups. The current study expands the research literature by distinctly examining whether the judicial decision of bail amount is impacted by the defendant being a Hispanic. Data were drawn from the 1996 District Court files of Lancaster County, NE, which contains information on all 812 persons accused of felonies who were eligible for bail. The analysis controlled for offense seriousness and prior criminal record. Results of ANOVA and regression analyses revealed that Hispanics in this jurisdiction were given significantly higher bail amounts than their White and African-American counterparts. While seriousness of offense had no effect on the bail amounts of Hispanic defendants, their place of residence was found to impact judicial bail decisions, strengthening the finding that extra-legal factors impact the bail decisions impacting Hispanic defendants. Future research should focus on additional jurisdictions with varying proportions of Hispanic residents. Tables, references