NCJ Number
163979
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 21 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 1-3
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
A study conducted by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services suggests that racial disparities in the processing of felony arrests are widespread in the State.
Abstract
State legislators who reviewed the study concluded that one in seven male minorities arrested on a violent felony offense and indicted would not have been indicted had they been processed as similarly situated whites and that similar disparities occurred in pretrial detention, convictions, and imprisonment. The legislators estimated that each year approximately one-third of the minority defendants convicted of a probation-eligible offense and sentenced to local jails would not have been sentenced to jail had they been white and that an additional 300 minorities convicted of probation-eligible offenses and sentenced to State prison each year would not have been sentenced to State prison had they been white. State Senator Waldon also charged that criminal justice officials have largely ignored the report. Trial judges have also criticized the governor's crime legislation, which eliminates parole, provides longer sentences, handles more adolescents as adults, and tightens rules for prosecuting and sentencing juvenile offenders. The significance of economics in sentencing is unclear, however. This study and other research examining inequities in case processing should stimulate discussions of the issue of equality under the law. 8 reference notes