Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform: The Quest for a Racially Neutral Sentencing Process

As we approach the 21st century, the issue of racial discrimination in sentencing continues to evoke controversy and spark debate. Some researchers contend that crimes by racial minorities are punished more harshly than similar crimes by equally culpable whites; others argue that racial disparities in sentence severity reflect differences in crime seriousness, prior criminal record, and other legally relevant factors that judges consider in determining the appropriate sentence. Some scholars suggest that racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing have been reduced by the sentencing reforms promulgated during the past three decades; others insist that these disparities have been exacerbated by the policies pursued during the war on drugs. The purpose of this essay is to inform the debate on race, crime, and justice by critically evaluating recent empirical research examining the effect of race/ethnicity on sentence severity and by searching for clues to the contexts or circumstances in which race/ethnicity makes a difference. Forty recent and methodologically sophisticated studies investigating the linkages between race/ethnicity and sentence severity are reviewed; included are 32 studies of sentencing decisions in State courts and eight studies of sentence outcomes at the Federal level.