How Judges think about racial disparities: situational decision-making in the crimal justice system

Researchers have theorized how judges’ decision-making may result in the disproportionate presence of Blacks and Latinos in the criminal justice system. Yet, we have little evidence about how judges make sense of these disparities and what, if anything, they do to address them. By drawing on 59 inte...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Clair, Matthew (Author)
Contributors: Winter, Alix S. (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2016
In: Criminology
Year: 2016, Volume: 54, Issue: 2, Pages: 332-359
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:

MARC

LEADER 00000naa a2200000 4500
001 1569958343
003 DE-627
005 20180219113104.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 180219s2016 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.1111/1745-9125.12106  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1569958343 
035 |a (DE-576)499958349 
035 |a (DE-599)BSZ499958349 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
100 1 |a Clair, Matthew  |0 (DE-588)1153213664  |0 (DE-627)1014662060  |0 (DE-576)499957288  |4 aut 
109 |a Clair, Matthew 
245 1 0 |a How Judges think about racial disparities  |b situational decision-making in the crimal justice system  |c Matthew Clair, and Alix S. Winter 
264 1 |c 2016 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a Researchers have theorized how judges’ decision-making may result in the disproportionate presence of Blacks and Latinos in the criminal justice system. Yet, we have little evidence about how judges make sense of these disparities and what, if anything, they do to address them. By drawing on 59 interviews with state judges in a Northeastern state, we describe, and trace the implications of, judges’ understandings of racial disparities at arraignment, plea hearings, jury selection, and sentencing. Most judges in our sample attribute disparities, in part, to differential treatment by themselves and/or other criminal justice officials, whereas some judges attribute disparities only to the disparate impact of poverty and differences in offending rates. To address disparities, judges report employing two categories of strategies: noninterventionist and interventionist. Noninterventionist strategies concern only a judge's own differential treatment, whereas interventionist strategies concern other actors’ possible differential treatment, as well as the disparate impact of poverty and facially neutral laws. We reveal how the use of noninterventionist strategies by most judges unintentionally reproduces disparities. Through our examination of judges’ understandings of racial disparities throughout the court process, we enhance understandings of American racial inequality and theorize a situational approach to decision-making in organizational contexts. 
700 1 |a Winter, Alix S.  |0 (DE-588)1153213958  |0 (DE-627)1014662362  |0 (DE-576)499957512  |4 oth 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Criminology  |d Oxford [u.a.] : Wiley-Blackwell, 1970  |g 54(2016), 2, Seite 332-359  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)340877685  |w (DE-600)2066199-X  |w (DE-576)25810161X  |x 1745-9125  |7 nnns 
773 1 8 |g volume:54  |g year:2016  |g number:2  |g pages:332-359 
856 4 0 |u http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12106  |x Resolving-System  |3 Volltext 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 299960842X 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 1569958343 
LOK |0 005 20180219113104 
LOK |0 008 180219||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-21-110  |c DE-627  |d DE-21-110 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Race 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Racial disparities 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Criminal justice 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Courts 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Judges 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Rassenunterschiede 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Bestrafung 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Strafjustiz 
LOK |0 689   |a s  |a Richter 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-21-110 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 935   |a krub 
ORI |a SA-MARC-krimdoka001.raw