Changes in Sentencing Disparities in Rural Courts: Pennsylvania in a Context of Rural Demographic Change

• In Event: Advances in Rural Criminology: Courts and Corrections in Rural Communities

Abstract

The rural Northeast and Midwest of the U.S., have experienced an “aging” of the population. By 2020, about 45% of rural Pennsylvania’s population was aged 45 or older, while the size of the state’s “crime prone age group,” aged 15-24, shrank to about 10%. At the same time, parts of rural Pennslyvania has also seen an increase in Hispanic populations since 2000. This study examines changes in age, racial, and ethnic sentencing disparities from 2000-2019 in rural Pennsylvania courts in the context of these demographic changes. The study draws from theories of group threat and the focal concerns perspective on sentencing.

Author

• Jeffery T. Ulmer, Penn State University