NCJ Number
141837
Date Published
1992
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This study investigated whether Afro-Caribbean and Asian offenders were sentenced by British courts according to the same criteria as whites, and whether these criteria held the same weight.
Abstract
The aim of the study was to ascertain whether there is a pattern in which ethnic offenders are more likely to be sent to prison or treated more severely than white offenders. Information gathered on individual cases included depositions of evidence, a social inquiry report, a list of previous convictions and sentences, and a police statement of antecedents. The sample used here included 1,441 ethnic minority male offenders (889 blacks and 536 Asians) and 1,443 white male offenders. In addition, a sample of 443 female offenders (76 blacks, 14 Asians, and 342 whites) was analyzed separately. The study findings estimated that 80 percent of the overrepresentation of black men in the prison population was due to the disproportionate number of them appearing before the Crown Courts and the seriousness of their crimes. The remaining 20 percent could be explained only as a result of differential treatment by the courts and other factors influencing the use of custody and the severity of sentences. Nonetheless, the study concluded that, while the evidence showed a complex pattern of racial disparities in the court, there was no evidence of a blanket discrimination against minority offenders, male or female.