Abstract

Crime rates and criminal justice responses to them are unevenly distributed across communities in the United States. When court officials review a new case, they consider whether the alleged offender and incident fit the “normal” profile of a case from a community. Neighborhoods and their conditions, such as economic disadvantage, crime rate, and racial/ethnic composition, may have understudied impacts on disparities in incarceration sentencing. This study evaluates whether the conditions in areas where defendants live and where they offend affect racial differences in incarceration sentences. Doing so allows us to estimate whether sentencing disparities are differentially affected by neighborhood type. Relying on the Gelbach decomposition method to estimate the size and sources of Black–White disparities in incarceration sentencing decisions, the study reveals that economic disadvantage in a defendant’s neighborhood of residence increases the likelihood of incarceration and lengthens sentences for Blacks. Conversely, economic affluence in neighborhoods of criminal incident reduces racial differences in sentencing by producing harsher sanctions for Whites. Findings highlight the importance of incorporating neighborhood contexts into assessments of sentencing disparities.

摘要

美国各社区的犯罪率和刑事司法应对措施分布不均。当法院官员审查新案件时，他们会考虑被指控的罪犯和事件是否符合社区案件的“正常”情况。社区及其条件，例如经济劣势、犯罪率和种族/民族构成，可能对监禁判刑差异的影响尚未得到充分研究。本研究评估了被告居住地区和犯罪地区的条件是否会影响监禁判决中的种族差异。这样做可以让我们估计量刑差异是否受到社区类型的不同影响。依靠 Gelbach 分解方法来估计监禁量刑决定中黑白差异的大小和来源，该研究表明，被告居住区的经济劣势增加了黑人被监禁的可能性并延长了刑期。相反，犯罪事件社区的经济富裕通过对白人产生更严厉的制裁来减少量刑中的种族差异。研究结果强调了将邻里背景纳入量刑差异评估的重要性。