Discretion and Disparity: An Examination of Race and Federal Sentencing Outcomes in Primary Offense Categories

• In Event: Race, Sentencing & Policy

Abstract

The United States Sentencing Commission has conducted two reviews on the impact of federal sentencing since the Supreme Court's decision to render the federal sentencing guidelines advisory in the US vs. Booker case. Two reviews, employing two different methodologies, have been conducted by the USSC together from 2003 to 2009, indicating a correlation between sentence lengths imposed and the demographic characteristics of offenders. They have found a general decreasing trend in overall uniformity in sentencing practices, as well as an increasing trend in certain differences in sentences, particularly those regarding racial disparities, since Booker. In this paper, we will look at federal district courts over the period 2010-2015, and employ a similar methodology to the USSC's updated Booker Report (2010) to test whether race is a significant contributor to not only sentence length but also, imprisonment, and certain upward or downward departures for federal sentencing outcomes in primary offense categories.

Authors

• Davonta Ellis, Unaffiliated

• Joanne Savage, Illinois State University