Socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in sentencing as a function of decision-makers SES

• In Event: Courts and Sentencing and Penal Decision Making 5. Sentencing Disparity and Other Challenges in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

A vast body of research in criminology, psychology, and law has extensively demonstrated that the identity features of the participants in legal proceedings (i.e., mainly defendants and judges) play a significant role in shaping criminal judgments, particularly sentencing decisions. That said, research in this domain mainly examined the effects of gender and race on criminal justice judgments and disparate outcomes; surprisingly, the potential influence of offenders' SES has been largely overlooked. The current study addresses this gap by exploring whether offenders' SES impacts laypeople's sentencing decisions as a function of their own SES. In the study, participants read a vignette depicting a crime committed by either a poor or middle-class offender and were asked about their sentencing decisions. Participants also reported their own SES using a subjective SES measure. Results show that offenders' SES impacted sentencing decisions based on participants' own SES. That is, high SES participants assigned harsher sentences to poor (relatively to middle-class) defendants, and low SES participants assigned harsher sentences to middle-class (versus poor) defendants. Explanations and implications of these findings to existing research about bias in sentencing decisions will be discussed.¬

Authors

• Ronen Shehman, University of Haifa

• Avital Mentovich, University of Haifa

• Orna Rabinovich-Einy, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa