Sentencing Add-Ons and Implications for Disparities in a Guidelines State

Abstract

This study examined whether and how discretionary sentencing add-ons (i.e., secondary charges, victim injury points, firearms/weapons points, drug trafficking enhancements) contribute to disparities. We examined add-ons that increase sentencing points and so contribute to a defendant “scoring to prison.” We analyzed: (1) the degree to which add-ons explain racial and ethnic disparities in imprisonment (mediation); and (2) whether add-ons are more adverse for minority defendants (moderation). We did not find that add-ons “explain” racial differences in the use of prison sentences. We did find, however, that some add-ons, particularly those that signal “dangerousness,” are racially/ethnically disparate in their consequences. The findings raise questions about the role of court discretion in perpetuating racial and ethnic disparities.

Keywords

incarceration race/ethnicity sentencing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albonetti

C. A.

(1991). An integration of theories to explain judicial discretion. Social Problems, 38(2), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1991.38.2.03a00090

Austin

Jones

Kramer

Renninger

(1996). National assessment of structured sentencing (NCJ 153853). US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Baumer

E. P.

(2013). Reassessing and redirecting research on race and sentencing. Justice Quarterly, 30(2), 231–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2012.682602

Beckett

Nyrop

Pfingst

(2006). Race, drugs, and policing: Understanding disparities in drug delivery arrests. Criminology, 44(1), 105–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2006.00044.x

Berk

R. A.

Ray

S. C.

(1982). Selection biases in sociological data. Social Science Research, 11(4), 352–398. https://doi.org/10.1016/0049-089X(82)90003-5

Blankenship

(2021a, January 11). Florida’s punishment code could be up for review this session. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/floridas-punishment-code-could-be-up-for-review-this-session/

Blankenship

(2021b, January 12). Public defenders take issue with punishment task force report. Retrieved January 15, 2021, from https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/public-defenders-take-issue-with-punishment-task-force-report/

Blank

R. M.

Dabady

Citro

C. F.

(Eds.). (2004). Measuring racial discrimination. National Academies.

Bontrager

Bales

Chiricos

(2005). Race, ethnicity, threat and the labeling of convicted felons. Criminology, 43(3), 589–622. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00018.x

10.

Bowen

D. M.

(2009). Calling your bluff: How prosecutors and defense attorneys adapt plea bargaining strategies to increased formalization. Justice Quarterly, 26(1), 2–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820802180432

11.

Caravelis

Chiricos

Bales

(2011). Static and dynamic indicators of minority threat in sentencing outcomes: A multi-level analysis. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 27(4), 405–425. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-011-9130-1

12.

Cassidy

Rydberg

(2018). Analyzing variation in prior record penalties across conviction offenses. Crime & Delinquency, 64(7), 831–855. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128717693215

13.

Chiricos

T. G.

Crawford

(1995). Race and imprisonment: A contextual assessment of the evidence. Ethnicity, Race, and Crime: Perspectives Across Time and Place, 13, 281–309.

14.

Clair

Winter

A. S.

(2016). How judges think about racial disparities: Situational decision-making in the criminal justice system. Criminology, 54(2), 332–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12106

15.

Clogg

Petkova

Haritou

(1995). Statistical methods for comparing regression coefficients between models. The American Journal of Sociology, 100(5), 1261–1293. https://doi.org/10.1086/230638

16.

Crawford

(2000). Gender, race, and habitual offender sentencing in Florida. Criminology, 38(1), 263–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2000.tb00890.x

17.

Crawford

Chiricos

Kleck

(1998). Race, racial threat, and sentencing of habitual offenders. Criminology, 36(3), 481–512. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01256.x

18.

Criminal Punishment Code (CPC). (2019). Fla. Stat. §§ 921.002 – 921.027. http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/sen_cpcm/cpc_manual.pdf

19.

Crow

M. S.

(2008). The complexities of prior record, race, ethnicity, and policy: Interactive effects in sentencing. Criminal Justice Review, 33(4), 502–523. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016808320709

20.

Crow

M. S.

Gertz

(2008). Sentencing policy and disparity: Guidelines and the influence of legal and democratic subcultures. Journal of Criminal Justice, 36(4), 362–371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2008.06.004

21.

Crow

M. S.

Johnson

K. A.

(2008). Race, ethnicity, and habitual-offender sentencing: A multilevel analysis of individual and contextual threat. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 19(1), 63–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403407308476

22.

Curry

T. R.

(2010). The conditional effects of victim and offender ethnicity and victim gender on sentences for non-capital cases. Punishment & Society, 12(4), 438–462. https://doi.org/10.1177/1462474510376585

23.

Demuth

Steffensmeier

(2004). The impact of gender and race-ethnicity in the pretrial release process. Social Problems, 51(2), 222–242. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2004.51.2.222

24.

Dixon

(1995). The organizational context of criminal sentencing. American Journal of Sociology, 100(5), 1157–1198. https://doi.org/10.1086/230635

25.

Donnelly

E. A.

MacDonald

J. M.

(2018). The downstream effects of bail and pretrial detention on racial disparities in incarceration. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 108(4), 775–813.

26.

Engen

R. L.

Gainey

R. R.

Crutchfield

R. D.

Weis

J. G.

(2003). Discretion and disparity under sentencing guidelines: The role of departures and structured sentencing alternatives. Criminology, 41(1), 99–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb00983.x

27.

Engen

R. L.

Steen

(2000). The power to punish: Discretion and sentencing reform in the war on drugs. American Journal of Sociology, 105(5), 1357–1395. https://doi.org/10.1086/210433

28.

Everett

R. S.

Wojtkiewicz

R. A.

(2002). Difference, disparity, and race/ethnic bias in federal sentencing. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 18(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015258732676

29.

Farrell

(2003). Mandatory minimum firearm penalties: A source of sentencing disparity? Justice Research and Policy, 5(1), 95–115. https://doi.org/10.3818/JRP.5.1.2003.95

30.

Fearn

N. E.

(2005). A multilevel analysis of community effects on criminal sentencing. Justice Quarterly, 22(4), 452–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820500364668

31.

Feeley

M. M.

(1992). The process is the punishment: Handling cases in a lower criminal court. Routledge.

32.

Feldmeyer

Warren

P. Y.

Siennick

S. E.

Neptune

(2015). Racial, ethnic, and immigrant threat: Is there a new criminal threat on state sentencing? Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 52(1), 62–92.

33.

Feldmeyer

Ulmer

J. T.

(2011). Racial/Ethnic threat and federal sentencing. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(2), 238–270.

34.

Fontaine

Emily

(1978). Causal attribution and judicial discretion. Law and Human Behavior, 2(4), 323–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01038985

35.

Franklin

T. W.

Henry

T. K. S.

(2020). Racial disparities in federal sentencing outcomes: Clarifying the role of criminal history. Crime & Delinquency, 66(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719828353

36.

Greene

Loftus

E. F.

(1985). When crimes are joined at trial. Law and Human Behavior, 9(2), 193–207. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067051

37.

Hagan

(1974). Extra-legal attributes and criminal sentencing: An assessment of a sociological viewpoint. Law and Society Review, 8, 357–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053080

38.

Hawkins

(1981). Causal attribution and punishment for crime. Deviant Behavior, 1, 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.1981.9967554

39.

Hinton

Henderson

Reed

(2018). An unjust burden: The disparate treatment of black Americans in the criminal justice system. Vera Institute of Justice.

40.

Johnson

B. D.

(2014). The missing link: Examining prosecutorial decision-making across federal district courts. National Criminal Justice Reference Service. https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=267436

41.

Johnson

B. D.

(2018). In search of the missing link: Examining contextual variation in federal charge bargains across U.S. district courts. Justice Quarterly, 35(7), 1133–1165. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2018.1523447

42.

Johnson

B. D.

Lee

J. G.

(2013). Racial disparity under sentencing guidelines: A survey of recent research and emerging perspectives. Sociology Compass, 7(7), 503–514. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12046

43.

Jordan

K. L.

McNeal

B. A.

(2016). Juvenile penalty or leniency: Sentencing of juveniles in the criminal justice system. Law and Human Behavior, 40(4), 387–400. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000186

44.

Kaeble

Glaze

Tsoutis

Minton

(2015). Correctional populations in the United States, 2014. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

45.

Karlson

K. B.

Holm

Breen

(2012). Comparing regression coefficients between same-sample nested models using logit and probit: A new method. Sociological Methodology, 42(1), 286–313.

46.

King

R. D.

Light

M. T.

(2019). Have racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing declined? Crime and Justice, 48(1), 365–437.

47.

Kramer

J. H.

Ulmer

J. T.

(1996). Sentencing disparity and departures from guidelines. Justice Quarterly, 13(1), 80–105.

48.

Kurlychek

M. C.

Johnson

B. D.

(2019). Cumulative disadvantage in the American criminal justice system. Annual Review of Criminology, 2, 291–319. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-011518-024815

49.

Kutateladze

B. L.

(2018). Tracing charge trajectories: A study of the influence of race in charge changes at case screening, arraignment, and disposition. Criminology, 56(1), 123–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12166

50.

Kutateladze

B. L.

Andiloro

N. R.

Johnson

B. D.

(2016). Opening Pandora’s box: How does defendant race influence plea bargaining? Justice Quarterly, 33(3), 398–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2014.915340

51.

Kutateladze

B. L.

Andiloro

N. R.

Johnson

B. D.

Spohn

C. C.

(2014). Cumulative disadvantage: Examining racial and ethnic disparity in prosecution and sentencing. Criminology, 52(3), 514–551. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12047

52.

LaFree

G. D.

(1989). Rape and criminal justice: The social construction of sexual assault. Wadsworth Publishing Co.

53.

Leipold

A. D.

Abbasi

H. A.

(2006). The impact of joinder and severance on federal criminal cases: An empirical study. Vanderbilt Law Review, 59(2), 347–404.

54.

Liu

Emsley

Dunn

VanderWeele

Valeri

(2014). PARAMED: Stata module to perform causal mediation analysis using parametric regression models. https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:213679

55.

Lowery

P. G.

Burrow

J. D.

Kaminski

R. J.

(2018). A multilevel test of the racial threat hypothesis in one state’s juvenile court. Crime & Delinquency, 64(1), 53–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128716678192

56.

Lundman

R. J.

Kaufman

R. L.

(2003). Driving while black: Effects of race, ethnicity, and gender on citizen self-reports of traffic stops and police actions. Criminology, 41(1), 195–220. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb00986.x

57.

Lynch

(2019). Focally concerned about focal concerns: A conceptual and methodological critique of sentencing disparities research. Justice Quarterly, 36(7), 1148–1175. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2019.1686163

58.

Margulies

Packard

Engel

(2019). An analysis of Florida’s criminal punishment code. Crime and Justice Institute.

59.

Mauer

(2011). Addressing racial disparity in incarceration. The Prison Journal, 91(3), 875–1015.

60.

May

D. C.

Wood

P. B.

(2010). Ranking correctional punishments: Views from offenders, practitioners, and the public. Carolina Academic Press.

61.

Mears

D. P.

Cochran

J. C.

Lindsey

A. M.

(2016). Offending and racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice: A conceptual framework for guiding theory and research and informing policy. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 32(1), 78–103.

62.

Mitchell

(2005). A meta-analysis of race and sentencing research: Explaining the inconsistencies. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 21(4), 439–466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-005-7362-7

63.

Nelson

M. J.

(2014). Responsive justice? Retention elections, prosecutors, and public opinion. Journal of Law and Courts, 2(1), 117–152. https://doi.org/10.1086/674527

64.

Omori

Petersen

(2020). Institutionalizing inequality in the courts: Decomposing racial and ethnic disparities in detention, conviction, and sentencing. Criminology, 58(4), 678–713.

65.

Paternoster

Brame

Mazerolle

Piquero

(1998). Using the correct statistical test for the equality of regression coefficients. Criminology, 36, 859–866. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01268.x

66.

Pratt

T. C.

(1998). Race and sentencing: A meta-analysis of conflicting empirical research results. Journal of Criminal Justice, 26(6), 513–523. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(98)00028-2

67.

Reaves

B. A.

(2013). Felony defendants in large urban counties, 2009 – statistical tables. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fdluc09.pdf

68.

Rehavi

M. M.

Starr

S. B.

(2014). Racial disparity in federal criminal sentences. Journal of Political Economy, 122(6), 1320–1354. https://doi.org/10.1086/677255

69.

Rodriguez

Curry

T. R.

Lee

(2006). Gender differences in criminal sentencing: Do effects vary across violent, property, and drug offenses? Social Science Quarterly, 87(2), 318–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00383.x

70.

Schlesinger

(2005). Racial and ethnic disparity in pretrial criminal processing. Justice Quarterly, 22(2), 170–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820500088929

71.

Schlesinger

(2011). The failure of race neutral policies: How mandatory terms and sentencing enhancements contribute to mass racialized incarceration. Crime & Delinquency, 57(1), 56–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128708323629

72.

Shermer

L. O. N.

Johnson

B. D.

(2010). Criminal prosecutions: Examining prosecutorial discretion and charge reductions in US federal district courts. Justice Quarterly, 27(3), 394–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418820902856972

73.

Smith

R. J.

Levinson

J. D.

(2011). The impact of implicit racial bias on the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Seattle University Law Review, 35(3), 795–826.

74.

Spohn

(2000). Thirty years of sentencing reform: The quest for a racially neutral sentencing process. Criminal Justice, 3(1), 427–501.

75.

Spohn

(2008). Race, sex, and pretrial detention in federal court: Indirect effects and cumulative disadvantage. University of Kansas Law Review, 57, 879–901. https://doi.org/10.17161/1808.20099

76.

Spohn

(2015). Evolution of sentencing research. Criminology & Public Policy, 14(2), 225–232. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12125

77.

Spohn

C. C.

Kim

Belenko

Brennan

P. K.

(2014). The direct and indirect effects of offender drug use on federal sentencing outcomes. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 30(3), 549–576.

78.

Spohn

Holleran

(2000). The imprisonment penalty paid by young, unemployed black and Hispanic male offenders. Criminology, 38(1), 281–306. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2000.tb00891.x

79.

Spohn

Sample

L. L.

(2013). The dangerous drug offender in federal court: Intersections of race, ethnicity, and culpability. Crime & Delinquency, 59(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128708319928

80.

Spohn

Spears

(1996). The effect of offender and victim characteristics on sexual assault case processing decisions. Justice Quarterly, 13(4), 649–679. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829600093141

81.

Starr

S. B.

Rehavi

M. M.

(2013). Mandatory sentencing and racial disparity: Assessing the role of prosecutors and the effects of Booker. Yale Law Journal, 123(1), 2–80.

82.

Steen

Engen

R. L.

Gainey

R. R.

(1999). The impact of race and ethnicity on charging and sentencing processes for drug offenders in three counties of Washington State (Final report). Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.

83.

Steen

Engen

R. L.

Gainey

R. R.

(2005). Images of danger and culpability: Racial stereotyping, case processing, and criminal sentencing. Criminology, 43(2), 435–468. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00013.x

84.

Steffensmeier

Demuth

(2006). Does gender modify the effects of race–ethnicity on criminal sanctioning? Sentences for male and female white, black, and Hispanic defendants. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 22(3), 241–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-006-9010-2

85.

Steffensmeier

Kramer

Streifel

(1993). Gender and imprisonment decisions. Criminology, 31(3), 411–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1993.tb01136.x

86.

Steffensmeier

Ulmer

Kramer

(1998). The interaction of race, gender, and age in criminal sentencing: The punishment cost of being young, black, and male. Criminology, 36(4), 763–798. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.1998.tb01265.x

87.

Stith

Cabranes

J. A.

(1998). Fear of judging: Sentencing guidelines in the federal courts. University of Chicago Press.

88.

Stolzenberg

D’Alessio

S. J.

Eitle

(2013). Race and cumulative discrimination in the prosecution of criminal defendants. Race and Justice, 3(4), 275–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368713500317

89.

Stringer

R. J.

Holland

M. M.

(2016). It’s not all black and white: A propensity score matched, multilevel examination of racial drug sentencing disparities. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 14(4), 327–347. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377938.2016.1187239

90.

Tonry

(1995). Malign neglect: Race, crime, and punishment in America. Oxford University Press.

91.

Ulmer

J. T.

(2012). Recent developments and new directions in sentencing research. Justice Quarterly, 29(1), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.624115

92.

Ulmer

J. T.

Kurlychek

M. C.

Kramer

J. H.

(2007). Prosecutorial discretion and the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 44(4), 427–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427807305853

93.

Ulmer

J. T.

Light

M. T.

Kramer

(2011). The “liberation” of federal judges’ discretion in the wake of the Booker/Fanfan decision: Is there increased disparity and divergence between courts? Justice Quarterly, 28(6), 799–837. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2011.553726

94.

Wang

Mears

D. P.

Spohn

Dario

(2013). Assessing the differential effects of race and ethnicity on sentence outcomes under different sentencing systems. Crime & Delinquency, 59(1), 87–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128709352234

95.

Wood

P. B.

May

D. C.

(2003). Racial differences in perceptions of the severity of sanctions: A comparison of prison with alternatives. Justice Quarterly, 20(3), 605–631.

96.

Wooldredge

J. D.

(1998). Analytical rigor in studies of disparities in criminal case processing. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 14(2), 155–179. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023076104837

97.

Wooldredge

Frank

Goulette

Travis

III. (2015). Is the impact of cumulative disadvantage on sentencing greater for Black defendants? Criminology & Public Policy, 14(2), 187–223. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12124

98.

Wooldredge

Thistlethwaite

(2004). Bilevel disparities in court dispositions for intimate assault. Criminology, 42(2), 417–456. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2004.tb00525.x

99.

Wright

R. F.

Engen

R. L.

(2007). Charge movement and theories of prosecutors. Marquette Law Review, 91, 9–38.

100.

(2016). Racial/ethnic discrimination and prosecution: A meta-analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(4), 437–458. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815628026

101.

Spohn

(2009). Does an offender’s age have an effect on sentence length? A meta-analytic review. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 20(4), 379–413. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403409333047

102.

Wynne

D. F.

Hartnagel

T. F.

(1975). Race and plea negotiation: An analysis of some Canadian data. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1(2), 147–155.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.24 MB