Cumulative Disadvantage: An Examination of Ethnic Inequalities in Pre-sentencing and Sentencing Outcomes

• In Event: Advancing criminological research through administrative data: Lessons from the ADR UK Data First programme (Panel 1)

Abstract

Criminal justice punishment is unequally distributed. The UK has the highest rates of imprisonment in Western Europe, where ethnic minority people in prisons make up 27 per cent of prisoners compared to 18 per cent of the general population. Recent government reports have highlighted ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System, yet the causes of these inequalities are not fully understood. While growing evidence indicates unwarranted disparities and ethnic bias in custodial sentences, focusing solely on sentencing outcomes overlooks how earlier decisions in the justice system shape and potentially compound later outcomes. Moreover, most empirical evidence to date has focused on the direct effects of ethnicity on sentencing outcomes, paying little attention on how defendant background and case processing characteristics intersect to shape disparities. This paper draws on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council using Ministry of Justice linked cross-justice datasets and multi-level modelling to examine ethnic disparities at different stages of the justice system including pre-trial detention, plea proposal and sentencing. The models explore individual and combined effects of legal and extra-legal factors on pre-sentencing and sentencing outcomes showing how these factors may lead to disproportionately poorer outcomes. The findings contribute to a better understanding about which groups may be subject to cumulative disadvantage, how earlier decisions in the justice system shape later outcomes, and the factors that are associated with the accumulation of disadvantage. Understanding the causes of ethnic inequalities in the Criminal Justice System will further aid progress towards government equality objectives to deliver improved, evidence-based interventions to achieve better outcomes for ethnic minority groups.

Author

• Kitty Lymperopoulou, Plymouth University