A Dollar or a Day: Sentencing Misdemeanants in New York State
This research estimates disparities in sentencing for 105,000 persons arrested for misdemeanor crimes and convicted of misdemeanor or violation offenses. Black and Hispanic defendants are categorized as minority defendants, and all other defendants are categorized as White. After controlling for dif...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1994
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| In: |
Journal of research in crime and delinquency
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Availability in Tübingen: | Present in Tübingen. IFK: In: Z 31 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | This research estimates disparities in sentencing for 105,000 persons arrested for misdemeanor crimes and convicted of misdemeanor or violation offenses. Black and Hispanic defendants are categorized as minority defendants, and all other defendants are categorized as White. After controlling for differences in arrest charges, prior criminal records, conviction charges, and county of processing, the analysis shows that Whites were sentenced to pay fines more often than minorities. Minorities without prior arrest records were sentenced to conditional discharge more often than Whites, and minorities with prior arrests were sentenced to jail more often than Whites. Minorities and Whites were sentenced to the same length of incarceration. In most counties, minorities were fined fewer dollars than Whites. The disparities suggest that judges lacked alternatives for sanctioning offenders who had prior criminal records and lacked resources needed to pay fines |
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| ISSN: | 0022-4278 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0022427894031002006 |