Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process

By A. B. S T R, C. Spohn. 2000

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Citations in the corpus

All Models are Wrong, but Many are Useful: Learning a Variable’s Importance by Studying an Entire Class of Prediction Models Simultaneously (2018, methodology): “Data Analysis: Reliance of Criminal Recidivism Prediction Models on Race and Sex Evidence suggests that bias exists among judges and prosecutors in the criminal justice system (Spohn, 2000; Blair et al., 2004; Paternoster and Brame, 2008).”
The Influence of Afrocentric Facial Features in Criminal Sentencing (2004, background): “aspects of the criminal justice system have been criticized for showing racial bias; however, some of the harshest criticism has been directed at sentencing decisions (Spohn, 2000).”
Assessing the Impact of First-Time Imprisonment on Offenders’ Subsequent Criminal Career Development: A Matched Samples Comparison (2009, background): “Specifically judges can be expected to more likely impose a prison sentence on individuals with more extensive criminal careers (Mitchell 2005; Spohn 2000).”
Reassessing and Redirecting Research on Race and Sentencing (2013, methodology): “Hundreds of such studies have been conducted during the past three decades (e.g. Hagan, 1974; Spohn, 2000), and they represent by a long mile the “modal” approach to studying race and sentencing.”
Sentencing Female Misdemeanants: An Examination of the Direct and Indirect Effects of Race/Ethnicity (2006, methodology): “…studies of sentencing decisions in state courts and eight at the federal level, she concluded that although offense seriousness and offender criminal record were the primary determinates of sentencing decisions, race/ethnicity and other offender characteristics played a role (Spohn, 2000, p. 481).”
Measuring and Explaining Charge Bargaining (2007, background): “Because the prosecutor is 1 For a comprehensive review of sentencing research, see Spohn (2000).”
Recent Developments and New Directions in Sentencing Research (2012, background): “Concluding Thoughts Returning to the reviews of Zatz (2000) and Spohn (2000) that provided the point of departure for this review, I note two quotes: By interviewing judges and other criminal justice officials, observing court proceedings, and reading transcripts of sentencing hearings, researchers…”
Race and Cumulative Discrimination in the Prosecution of Criminal Defendants (2013, background): “A number of studies suggest that the strongest predictor of a criminal defendant’s criminal justice outcome is not the defendant’s race but rather legal factors such as severity of the criminal offense and prior criminal record (Spohn, 2000).”
Prosecutorial Discretion: An Examination of Substantial Assistance Departures in Federal Crack‐Cocaine and Powder‐Cocaine Cases (2007, background): “This time period has also seen “revolutionary transformation” (Spohn 2000) in sentencing practices.”
The Social, Psychological, and Political Causes of Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System (2010, unknown): “Sentencing research showing that there are few racial differences in sentence lengths is consistent with this belief (e.g., Spohn 2000, 2002).”
Opening Pandora’s Box: How Does Defendant Race Influence Plea Bargaining? (2016, background): “The majority of research on race and punishment has focused on the final sentencing decision (Baumer, 2013; Spohn, 2000; Ulmer, 2012; Zatz, 2000).”
Let My People Go: Ethnic In‐Group Bias in Judicial Decisions—Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment (2010, unknown): “They are contrary to the findings of Uhlman (1978), Spohn (1990b), and Steffensmeier and Britt (2001), but conform to the findings of Welch et al. (1988), and particularly Johnson (2006) who found that minority judges are less likely to incarcerate black and Hispanic offenders,”
The color of punishment: African Americans, skin tone, and the criminal justice system (2018, background): “…system – some scholars point to the importance of differences in delinquency, drug use, earnings, employment, and criminal history & behaviours (see Spohn 2000; Demuth 2003) – to the extent that bias does play a role in shaping treatment by police and other figures of authority in the criminal…”