Distinguishing Race Effects on Pre-Trial Release and Sentencing Decisions

Racial disparities in court dispositions and sentences might reflect systemic biases toward minorities, but they might also stem from race group differences in legal or other extra-legal factors linked to a defendant’s risk for future criminality. Analyses of over 5,000 felony defendants from an urban Ohio jurisdiction revealed that significant main effects of a defendant’s race on release on one’s own recognizance (ROR), bond amounts, and prison sentences were rendered nonsignificant when controlling for legal factors, such as offense severity. Analyses of interaction effects, on the other hand, revealed that African American males age 18–29 experienced lower odds of ROR, higher bond amounts, and higher odds of incarceration in prison relative to other demographic subgroups, even with the inclusion of rigorous controls for legally relevant criteria. The relevance of these findings for understanding disparate treatment at different stages of case processing is discussed.     

Trial Penalties in Federal Sentencing: Extra‐Guidelines Factors and District Variation

The guarantee of the right to a jury trial lies at the heart of the principles that underlie the American criminal justice system's commitment to due process of law. We investigate the differential sentencing of those who plead guilty and those convicted by trial in U.S. District Courts. We first investigate how much of any federal plea/trial sentencing differences are accounted for by substantial assistance to law enforcement, acceptance of responsibility, obstruction of justice, and other Guideline departures. Second, we investigate how such differences vary according to offense and defendant characteristics, as well as court caseloads and trial rates. We use federal sentencing data for fiscal years 2000–02, along with aggregate data on federal district court caseload features. We find that meaningful trial penalties exist after accounting for Guidelines‐based rationales for differentially sentencing those convicted by guilty plea versus trial. Higher district court caseload pressure is associated with greater trial penalties, while higher district trial rates are associated with lesser trial penalties. In addition, trial penalties are lower for those with more substantial criminal histories, and black men. Trial penalties proportionately increase, however, as Guideline minimum sentencing recommendations increase. We also supplement our analysis with interview and survey data from federal district court participants, which provide insights into the plea reward/trial penalty process, and also suggest important dimensions of federal court trial penalties that we cannot measure.     

Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings

This article examines how out-group perceptions among Asian Americans, blacks, Latinos, and whites vary with the racial composition of their surroundings. Previous research on the contextual determinants of racial attitudes offers mixed expectations: some studies indicate that larger percentages of proximate out-groups generate intergroup conflict and hostility while others suggest that such environments promote interracial contact and understanding. As most of this research has been directed at black-white relations, the applicability of these theories to a multiethnic context remains unclear. Using data that merge the 1992–1994 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and 1990 Census, we find that in neighborhood contexts, interethnic propinquity corresponds with lower levels of out-group prejudice and competition, although intergroup hostility is higher in metropolitan areas with greater minority populations. Further tests suggest that these results do not occur from individual self-selection; rather ethnic spatial and social isolation bolster negative out-group perceptions. These findings suggest the value of residential integration for alleviating ethnic antagonism .     

浅谈“先富”向“共富”转变过程中的公平与效率问题

中共十六届五中全会审议并通过了《中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十一个五年规划的建议》,其中“共同富裕”成为了亮点之一,在“先富”向“共富”转变这样一个特殊时期,很多人认为不应该再提“效率优先”了,“注重公平”才是头等重要的大事。然而,正是在这样一个特殊时期,坚持“效率优先”更具有不容轻视的重要意义。     

Race,Sophistication, and White Opinion on Government Spending

The conventional wisdom in public opinion research suggests that the white public views government spending as a single race-coded issue. This article develops an alternative theory that rests on two propositions. First, the white public sees government spending not as a single issue, but rather, as two distinct issues: spending on the deserving poor and spending on the undeserving poor. Second, political sophistication strengthens the impact racial stereotypes have on attitudes toward spending on the undeserving poor, and it does not affect the relationship between stereotypes and attitudes toward spending on the deserving poor. These hypotheses are tested using data from the 1996 and 1992 NES surveys. The empirical results provide strong support for both propositions.     

South Africa: The politics of racial terminology

Survey of racial terminology employed in southern Africa since 1652 is discussed     

Have Federal Sentencing Guidelines Reduced Severity? An Examination of One Circuit

Congress intended to make the sentencing process less discretionary and more equitable for similarly situated defendants when it passed the U.S. Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. Sentencing guidelines were devised to promote these changes. After more than a decade of implementation, however, little is known about the impact of the new policy. This paper examines sentences given between 1993 and 1994 in one federal circuit in an effort to determine whether this policy instrument has achieved success. The theoretical model of a rational case processing system (Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 1980) is used to guide the interpretation of our findings and the recommendations we offer for improvements.     

“贫富差距悬殊”不是和谐社会——十六届五中全会关于“社会公平”、“调节收入分配”思想探析

党的十六届五中全会极大地关注了"社会公平"问题。解决收入差距过大的问题,是改革步入新阶段实现小平同志"共同富裕"思想的需要,是建立党提出的"和谐社会"的必然。中国现存的收入差距悬殊问题,不能归咎于发展"市场经济"。要解决好这一问题,有待于继续完善市场经济体制,同时要求政府发挥"看得见的手"的合理调节作用。     

不合理收入分配:表现、原因及对策

本文认为缩小收入分配差距,应从调节不合理工资性收入为切入点,依照我国现行对公务员、事业单位职员、企业职工、城镇低收入群体和农民五种行政管理体制,从完善收入分配制度,规范收入分配秩序入手,以建立劳动力市场价位的岗位工资体系为目标,解决不合理工资性收入分配,构建和谐社会。     

关于俄罗斯经济政策与发展路径的研究

本世纪以来俄罗斯推行"国家资本主义"经济发展路径,俄罗斯国内对此存在分歧。在对内经济政策方面,俄罗斯高层的主要分歧是关于市场经济主体——国有公司还是私营经济在俄市场经济中的地位及其出路问题;对外政策上的分歧是关于俄经济发展是否需要依赖西方。"新普京时代"是俄罗斯发展与变革的时期,普京提出的俄罗斯新经济政策要点是以创新带动俄罗斯经济发展,俄罗斯既定的"国家资本主义"经济发展路径能否发生变化,普京的新经济政策能否得以实施,需要给予进一步观察。