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The Sentencing Decisions of Black and White Judges: Expected and Unexpected Similarities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Cassia Spohn
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Abstract

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Those who champion the representation of blacks on the bench argue that black judges may make a difference. Indeed, some suggest that increasing the proportion of black judges might result in more equitable treatment of black and white defendants. In this study we test these expectations. Using data on defendants charged with violent felonies, we compare the sentencing decisions of black and white judges in Detroit. We find remarkable similarities and conclude that judicial race has relatively little predictive power. More important, we find that both black and white judge sentence black offenders more severely than white offenders. Our results raise questions about the appropriate interpretation of racial disparity in incarceration rates and suggest that the harsher treatment of black offenders cannot be attributed to the racism of white judges.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 24 , Issue 5 , 1990 , pp. 1197 - 1216
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

This research was supported by a Summer Research Fellowship from the National Institute of Justice. The data, made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, were originally collected by Colin Loftin and Milton Heumann for their study of “Firearms Violence and the Michigan Felony Firearm Law: Detroit, 1976–1978.” Neither they nor the Consortium bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.

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