Relationship between Race, Ethnicity, and Sentencing Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis of Sentencing Research

摘要

Statement of Purpose: A tremendous body of research has accumulated on the topic of racial and ethnic discrimination in sentencing. These studies have produced seemingly divergent findings. The purpose of this research is to conduct an objective, comprehensive, and systematic review of the literature regarding the relationship between race/ethnicity and sentencing outcomes using quantitative methods (i.e., meta-analysis), which remedy many of the shortcomings inherent in the extant qualitative (narrative) reviews. Further, this research goes beyond simply addressing the question of whether there is unwarranted racial/ethnic sentencing disparity, but also addresses the question of why this body of research produces such inconsistent findings Methods: This research employed meta-analysis to summarize and analyze the variability in research findings. This meta-analysis established explicit, pre-set eligibility criteria that governed inclusion decisions in this review. Hundreds of studies are retrieved; each was closely scrutinized to determine eligibility status. From each study, observed differences in sentencing outcomes by race/ethnicity, independent of defendants criminal history and seriousness of the current offense, were transformed into effect sizes. We also coded features of each studys sample, methodology, type of sentencing outcome, and sentencing context.