An Evaluation of the Impact of Evidence-Based Sentencing on Social Inequality

• In Event: Criminal Justice Concerns About Fairness and Abuse

Abstract

Evidence-based sentencing, the burgeoning practice of using actuarial risk assessments to inform sentencing decisions, opens the door for changes in social inequality, but the nature, direction, and magnitude of such changes remain unclear. Though some policymakers and scholars argue that risk assessments are discriminatory and exacerbate social inequality, the effects of evidence-based sentencing on disparities are still largely untested in empirical literature. This project addresses that gap by assessing social inequalities both in Connecticut’s current sentencing scheme, which does not use sentencing guidelines, and in an evidence-based sentencing scheme. Using data on adult offenders convicted of a felony offense in Connecticut between 2008 and 2010, it compares disparities in actual sentences with disparities in estimated sentences when only Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) risk assessment scores and offense type/severity are considered. In this way, the project contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the effects of an evidence-based approach to sentencing and provides information to policymakers about how the implementation of an evidence-based sentencing approach may alter patterns of social inequality.

Author

• Rebecca Richardson, University of Maryland