And Justice for All? Racial and Ethnic Sentencing Disparities in California's Federal Drug Sentencing

California Journal of Politics and Policy, Volume 7, Number 2, May 2015

22 Pages Posted: 29 May 2015

See all articles by Elsa Chen

Elsa Chen

Santa Clara University

Kevin Nomura

University of Michigan Law School, Law School

Date Written: May 1, 2015

Abstract

This study uses data obtained from the United States Sentencing Commission for fiscal years 2003, 2007, and 2012 to examine racial and ethnic disparities in drug crime sentencing. The authors use linear regression to assess disparities in sentence length between African-American and white offenders and Latino and non-Latino offenders and a binary logistic regression model to assess black/white and Latino/non-Latino disparities in the odds of receiving a sentence below the range stipulated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

At the national level, the study found significant racial disparities that disadvantage African-American offenders in sentence length and odds of a below-range sentence. The study observed no disparities between African-American and white offenders in California for sentence length in 2003 or 2012, or for below-range odds in any of the three years. Nationally, ethnic disparities that disadvantaged Latino offenders were found in both sentence length and odds of a below-range sentence.

In California, Latino offenders tended to receive longer sentences than others in 2003 and 2007 and had lower odds of a sentence below the guideline range in 2012. The years included in this study bracket the Supreme Court case, United States v. Booker, but we found no clear impact of the case with regard to racial or ethnic disparities in sentencing outcomes.

Suggested Citation

Chen, Elsa and Nomura, Kevin, And Justice for All? Racial and Ethnic Sentencing Disparities in California's Federal Drug Sentencing (May 1, 2015). California Journal of Politics and Policy, Volume 7, Number 2, May 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2611366

Elsa Chen (Contact Author)

Santa Clara University ( email )

Department of Political Science
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
United States

Kevin Nomura

University of Michigan Law School, Law School

Ann Arbor, MI
United States

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