NCJ Number
224740
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 371-398
Date Published
November 2008
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effect of race and ethnicity on sentences imposed on drug offenders in North Carolina.
Abstract
Findings indicate that similarly situated offenders of different races and ethnicities receive different sentences. Specifically, White offenders received less severe punishments than either African-Americans or Hispanics and Hispanics offenders were particularly disadvantaged. The results of the study show that the availability of sanctions that lie in between probation and incarceration in jail or prison lead to ethnic disparity in sentencing in this jurisdiction. Minority offenders are disproportionately overrepresented in United States prison populations and their numbers continue to increase. Although the findings from past research on the effect of race/ethnicity suggest, for the most part, that African-Americans and Hispanics are likely to receive more punitive sentences than White offenders, overall results from the literature review are far from conclusive. This study adds to the extant research in the area of sentencing by examining sentencing outcomes for a random sample of felony drug offenders whose cases were disposed in one administrative drug court in a large urban jurisdiction in North Carolina during 2000. It was hypothesized that both African-American and Hispanic offenders would be more likely to be incarcerated than similarly situated Whites. It was also hypothesized that there would be differences between African-Americans and Hispanics with Hispanics predicted to receive the harsher sentences. Tables, notes, and references