The American (In)justice System: Judges, Defenses, and Sentencing
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Authors
Pink, Shadain
Preni, Robert
Patzkowsky, Emily
Swartzle, Chelsea
Issue Date
2024-04-04
Type
Language
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Abstract
In a just legal system, one would expect the punishment for a given crime to be the same for the entirety of a nation's adult population, regardless of the defendant's race and/or gender. In addition, one would also predict that judges who give out such punishments would not have their opinions influenced by their own race and/or gender. Numerous studies have linked such aspects (along with others such as whether the defendant had a public or private attorney) that fall outside of the facts of a case with how likely they were to be detained during pretrial and whether or not they would be given a lengthy sentence. However, there has been a lack of scholarly research regarding how such variables interact and potentially reduce, mediate, or elevate the effects of one another. In this research, an attempt is made to begin filling this extensive gap by analyzing how the race and gender of the defendants and the race and gender of judges impact the length of sentencing for defendants in criminal trials.