NCJ Number
181712
Journal
Corrections Management Quarterly Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: 2000 Pages: 28-35
Date Published
2000
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study explored how minority offenders had been sentenced (1993-97) in Washington State for repeat felony offenses; emphasis was on whether offenders were sentenced for similar subsequent violent acts.
Abstract
Data were obtained from the Washington sentencing guidelines Commission. In order to analyze the sequential pattern of offenses committed by repeat offenders, offenses were placed into general categories and entered temporally based on the order in which they occurred. Offenses committed by repeat offenders were categorized into 18 offense types. By using Bakeman and Quera's Sequential Data Interchange Standard program and Generalized Sequential Querier, contingency tables were created for both repeat offenders and for the third-strike offenders who had been incarcerated for life under the three-strikes law. Although assessments of offense patterns tended to provide little support for the specialization of offenses by offenders, analyses of the sequence of offenses committed by non-white repeat and third-strike offenders showed a pattern of specialization. All racial groups had offenders who were sentenced for similar offenses. This was especially true for robbery, assault, and drug offenses; however, both African-American male and female samples of repeat offenders showed significant results in the sentencing for various types of offenses. Although it is evident that within Washington State, repeat and third-strike offenders tended to be sentenced for similar offenses at least twice within their criminal careers, some degree of caution should be used in the interpretation of these results, because there were only two time points for repeat offenders and three time points for the three-strike offenders. Suggestions are offered for future research. 4 tables and 30 references