Threat, Focal Concerns and the Criminal Justice System: Understanding Disparities in Punishment

• In Event: Disparities in Punishment

Abstract

In the United States, there are longstanding disparities in the criminal justice system. Across the last 40 years, the number of racial and ethnic minorities under correctional supervision has increased by more than 200 percent with Blacks and Latinos 6 and 3 times as likely as Whites to be incarcerated. Given the value that is placed on equal and fair treatment under the law, along the deleterious effects that incarceration has on families and communities it is important to systematically explore how and under what conditions racial and ethnic minorities are disadvantaged during the sentencing process. In general, this body of evidence has been guided by two theoretical perspectives – focal concerns and racial threat. Although these frameworks have been explored separately, few studies have examined whether racial/ethnic threat conditions the effect of focal concerns on sentence severity across White, Black and Latino defendants. To that end, using Florida State Sentencing Guidelines data from 2010-2017, the current study investigates whether racial and ethnic threat moderate the effects of focal concerns on punitive outcomes among Black, White and Latino defendants.

Authors

• Patricia Warren, Florida State University

• Eric A. Stewart, Florida State University

• Mayra Picon, Florida State University

• Porche' A.W. Okafor, Le Moyne College

• Caroline Bailey, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis