Abstract

Research on when alternatives to incarceration are available – and for whom – is underdeveloped. In this study we introduce the concept of “salvageability” as a fourth focal concern guiding the decisions of court actors. In assessing salvageability, actors must consider the casual reasons behind offenders’ criminal involvement and the extent to which those causes can be ameliorated through rehabilitative programming. This process of causal attribution likely exacerbates racial disparity in sentences. We test whether offender race, gender, and prior histories of substance use affect assessments of salvageability as indicated by prosecutor decisions to pre-screen offenders for admittance into an intensive rehabilitation alternative sentence in Pennsylvania using linked data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Results suggest that black offenders are substantially less likely to be referred for the rehabilitative program even if that referral would be an upward departure from a guidelines-conforming sentence.

摘要

关于何时有替代监禁的研究——以及对谁——不发达。在这项研究中，我们将“可挽救性”的概念作为指导法院行为者决定的第四个焦点问题。在评估可挽救性时，行为者必须考虑犯罪者参与犯罪背后的偶然原因，以及这些原因可以通过康复计划改善的程度。这种因果归因过程可能会加剧句子中的种族差异。我们测试罪犯的种族、性别、使用宾夕法尼亚州量刑委员会和宾夕法尼亚州惩教部的相关数据，检察官决定预先筛选罪犯，以使其进入宾夕法尼亚州的强化康复替代刑期。结果表明，黑人罪犯被转介参加康复计划的可能性大大降低，即使转介会向上偏离符合准则的判决。