Citizenship/Nationality and Federal Sentencing Outcomes

• In Event: Roundtable: Immigration

Abstract

Prior literature has consistently found racial and ethnic disparities in federal sentencing outcomes. However, the literature has a limitation where the majority of studies mainly focused the final outcomes of a sentencing decision, incarceration and prison sentence length. This is particularly true for the literature on citizenship/nationality disparity in sentencing. This shortcoming led to a limited understanding and information on whether and via what mechanisms the citizenship or nationality of defendants explains these disparities. Using federal sentencing data (years), the current study addresses these gaps by examining the relationship between citizenship and nationality on federal sentencing outcomes, while addressing a mediating effect of a pre-trial decision. The findings of the study will advance our understanding of the different sources of disparities in sentencing. In this roundtable, we will also discuss the theory, research, analyses, and policy implications of our research.

Authors

• Doyun Koo, University of Memphis

• Pranjali Ravindra Sathe, University of Cincinnati