Racial equity in sentencing / Stephen P. Klein, Susan Turner, Joan Petersilia.

By:

Klein, Stephen P, 1938- [author.]

Contributor(s):

Publisher: Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 1988Description: xi, 30 pages : illustrations ; 23 cmContent type:

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

083300882X

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Electronic books.

LOC classification:

KFC1172.Z9 K57 1988

Online resources:

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Available additional physical forms:

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.

Summary: This report presents the results of an analysis of data on 11,553 offenders who were convicted in California in 1980 of assault, robbery, burglary, theft, forgery, or drug crimes. Using a combination of defendant and crime characteristics and criminal justice processing variables, the authors were able to predict with about 80 percent accuracy whether an offender was given probation or sentenced to prison for these crimes. Adding race to the prediction equation for a given crime type did not improve accuracy, nor was race shown to be related to the predicted sentence. Thus, the failure of race to contribute to predictive accuracy did not stem from any correlation between race and the variables that did predict these outcomes. Race also was not related to the length of prison term imposed. These findings, in contrast to those obtained before the full implementation of California's Determinate Sentencing Act, suggest that this act may foster racial equity in sentencing.

Item type:

eBooks

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"February 1988."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-30).

This report presents the results of an analysis of data on 11,553 offenders who were convicted in California in 1980 of assault, robbery, burglary, theft, forgery, or drug crimes. Using a combination of defendant and crime characteristics and criminal justice processing variables, the authors were able to predict with about 80 percent accuracy whether an offender was given probation or sentenced to prison for these crimes. Adding race to the prediction equation for a given crime type did not improve accuracy, nor was race shown to be related to the predicted sentence. Thus, the failure of race to contribute to predictive accuracy did not stem from any correlation between race and the variables that did predict these outcomes. Race also was not related to the length of prison term imposed. These findings, in contrast to those obtained before the full implementation of California's Determinate Sentencing Act, suggest that this act may foster racial equity in sentencing.

Also available on the internet via WWW in PDF format.