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Title: Hispanic-White Sentencing Di¤erentials in the Federal Criminal Justice System
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2016
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Abstract: In the Federal criminal justice system, large di¤erences in sentencing outcomes exist be- tween Hispanic and White defendants. A candidate explanation is ingroup bias causing ‘outsiders’ (Hispanics) to be treated di¤erently to ‘insiders’ (Whites). To probe this explana- tion we exploit 9-11 as an exogenously timed cue heightening the salience of insider-outsider di¤erences in American society. Based on linked administrative data that covers criminal cases from time of arrest through to sentencing, we use a DiD research design based on de- fendants all of whom were arrested pre 9-11, but some were su¢ciently far advanced along the timeline so as to come up for sentencing pre 9-11, while others had only just entered the timeline prior to 9-11, and so were sentenced post 9-11. We document that among those sentenced post 9-11, Hispanic-White judicial sentencing di¤erentials are further exacerbated relative to these sentenced pre 9-11, while Black-White sentencing di¤erentials are una¤ected. Our linked administrative data and research design also allows us to document the di¤er- ential treatment of Hispanic defendants by prosecutors in pre-sentencing stages of the CJS, such as with regards to the initial o¤ense charges they set. Finally, we collate bibliographical information on judges and document that in districts with a higher proportion of Hispanic judges, the Hispanic-White sentencing di¤erential is signi...cantly reduced, consistent with judges’ ingroup biases driving their sentencing decisions. Our results provide insights into the magnitude, channels and potential origins of Hispanic-White sentencing di¤erentials in the Federal criminal justice system.
Url: http://conference.iza.org/conference_files/transatlantic_2016/mcconnell_b6110.pdf
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Authors: McConnell, Brendon; Rasul, Imran
Publisher: ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Crime and Deviance, Race and Ethnicity
Countries: United States