Roundtable: Prior Record Sentencing Enhancements and Prison Racial Disproportionalities

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

Nonwhite offenders are incarcerated at much higher rates than white offenders, and much of this disproportionality results from sentence enhancements based on offender prior record. An offender’s prior record is a major sentencing factor in all American jurisdictions, and is an especially strong factor (or at least, much more visible) in sentencing guidelines jurisdictions – offenders with higher criminal history scores are more likely to be recommended for, and more likely to receive, executed-prison sentences and longer prison terms. Since nonwhite offenders tend to have higher criminal history scores, these sentence enhancements have a very substantial disparate impact, greatly contributing to the problem of disproportionate minority confinement. A number of states, with and without guidelines, have sought to address disparity problems by making racial/ethnic impact assessments, using the same prison-bed impact methodology that is used to assess the fiscal impacts of existing and proposed sentencing rules. Sometimes these racial/ethnic impact assessments result in policy changes, but their use remains controversial – when and to what extent should sentencing policy be changed in light of predicted disparate impact? The purpose of this roundtable is to promote discussion of these issues by researchers who have studied racial disparities in sentencing.

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Division of Special Interest

• Divisions of Special Interest / Division on Corrections & Sentencing

Chair

• Richard S Frase, University of Minnesota

Discussants

• Rhys Hester, Penn State Univ & PA Commission on Sentencing

• Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project

• Kevin R. Reitz, University of Minnesota Law; Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

• Julian V. Roberts, Oxford University

• Cassia Spohn, Arizona State University

• Michael Tonry, University of Minnesota

• Jeffery T. Ulmer, Penn State University