Race/ethnicity, sex, age and fines: a focal concerns approach
The focal concerns approach has been applied broadly in the sentencing literature. Research that has relied on this perspective generally finds that young, non-white men tend to receive the most punitive criminal sanctions. This perspective has less often been applied to non-custodial types of punis...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Journal of crime and justice
Year: 2021, Volume: 44, Issue: 4, Pages: 480-496 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | The focal concerns approach has been applied broadly in the sentencing literature. Research that has relied on this perspective generally finds that young, non-white men tend to receive the most punitive criminal sanctions. This perspective has less often been applied to non-custodial types of punishments, such as fines. Using data from the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) database from 2009, we examine the effects of defendant characteristics on fine imposition and amounts. In contrast to other sentencing research, we find that Black men under 50 and Black women over 50 are least likely to receive fines. Additionally, Hispanic men 31–49 receive fines of the greatest amounts. The current study contributes to sentencing research by focusing on fines as the sentencing outcome instead of the commonly used sentencing severity and our findings are unique to this area of research. |
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| ISSN: | 2158-9119 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/0735648X.2020.1823242 |