Intersecting Roles of Gender, Race and Skin Tone in Sentencing: Findings from Two Million Records

• In Event: Race, Sentencing & Punishment

Abstract

Race has been and continues to be central in the debates surrounding fairness in the criminal justice system. A great deal of evidence points to racial disparities caused by law enforcement, courts, and sentencing procedures. Yet given the limitations of most available datasets, much of the evidence has typically relied on self-reported race of people who are in contact with the criminal justice system. A growing body of research is showing how the perception of race matters as much as the race that individuals identify with. This implies that race needs to be considered at a more granular level, especially with respect to skin tone. In this study, we examine the compounding effect of race, measured in a traditional fashion and as skin tone, on a variety of case disposition outcomes, ranging from fines to sentence length. At the same time, we pay close attention to the intersection of gender and race. By using a dataset of more than two million criminal records covering a period of over 30 years in Harris County, Texas, we are uniquely positioned to advance the ongoing conversations about race and justice in the United States.

Authors

• Valerio Bacak, Rutgers University

• Sarah Esther Lageson, Rutgers University

• Lee Dicker, Rutgers University