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African Americans and Hispanics are sentenced more harshly than whites for…
African Americans and Hispanics are sentenced more harshly than whites for the following reasons:
Racial Disparity but not Racial Discrimination
Commit more crimes, and more serious criminal records
Prior records cause bias
Reflect legally proscribed factors rather than prejudice or bias on judges part
Not personal: disparity caused by objective factors
Indirect Discrimination
More likely to be poor
Live in impoverished communities
Less chance of having an attorney
Unemployment may cause harsher sentencing
Institutional Discrimination
Subject to facially neutral laws
Crack cocaine has more serious punishment than powder cocaine
Racial Discrimination
Judges are biased
Judges have prejudices
Race is actually taken into account
Subtle Racial Discrimination
Occur in some contexts but not others
Discrimination depends on nature of the crime
Discrimination depends on the racial composition of victim-offender
Discrimination depends on age and gender of offender
Personal: disparity caused by officials or people
Racial Disparity in Sentencing