NCJ Number
226533
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2009 Pages: 10-20
Date Published
January 2009
Length
11 pages
Annotation
In an analysis of political-contextual sources of punishment, this study developed a functional model of court decisionmaking and used ordinal logit to assess court punishment decisions in 387 counties across 7 States.
Abstract
The findings supported established assumptions about individual level punishment determinants, but showed that political environment indicators also predicted sentence severity. Interactions were present also. In law and order environments African-American defendants received enhanced sentences, but in jurisdictions with the largest African-American populations, African-American defendants faced reduced punishments. The findings in this study reinforced claims that punishment was intensely political. The empirical sentencing literature has focused intensively on racial equity concerns, but this research added to the literature by analyzing political-contextual sources of punishment. The study developed insights into sentencing factors that might provide political cover for the local courts and help to sustain their public support despite persistent evidence of unequal sentencing patterns. The study offered a model of how the courts contribute to local stability and maintain local political support in the course of mediating the effects of the criminal law and dispensing localized justice. Tables, notes, and references