Running head: RACIAL DISPARITY IN SENTENCING
Racial Disparity in Sentencing
Octavio Ortega
Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice
CJA 423
Margery Melvin
University of Phoenix
May 4, 2010
Racial Disparity in Sentencing
A recent Pew Center Report published in 2007 relates that presently one in every one hundred adults in America is in prison. Moreover, one in every 15 African American men in America is in a United States prison. The fact is that a great deal racial disparity exists in the United States sentencing of prisoners, as this work will demonstrate. Racially disparity exists “when the proportion of a racial or ethnic group within the control of the system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population” (The Sentencing Project, 2000).
The work of Kansal (2005) a publication of The Sentencing Project states: “The intersection of racial dynamics with the criminal justice system is one of longstanding duration. In earlier times, courtrooms in many jurisdictions were comprised of all white decision makers. Today, there is a more diversity of leadership in the court system, but race still plays a criminal role in many criminal justice outcomes” (p. 3). Kansal (2005) relates key findings in research to include that: “young, black and Latino males are subject particularly to harsh sentencing compared to other offender populations; Black and Latino defendants are disadvantaged compared white with regard for legal process related factors such as the ‘trial penalty’, sentence reductions for substantial assistance, criminal history, pretrial detention, and type of attorney; Black defendants convicted of harming white victims suffer harsher penalties than blacks who commit crimes against other blacks or white defendants who harm whites; and Black and Latino defendants tend to be sentenced more severely than comparably situated white defendants for less serious crimes, especially drug and property crimes” (2005; p. 4). Kansal...