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Measuring Judicial and Prosecutorial Discretion: Sex and Race Disparities in Departures From the Federal Sentencing Guidelines

NCJ Number
216006
Journal
Justice Research and Policy Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: Fall 2004 Pages: 45-78
Author(s)
Amy Farrell
Date Published
2004
Length
34 pages
Annotation

This study examined gender and race disparities in downward departures from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Federal sentences from 1996 through 1997.

Abstract

The results indicated that decisions by both judges and prosecutors that departed from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines favorably impacted female defendants in comparison to male defendants. Specifically, the results revealed that among drug-trafficking defendants sentenced in Federal court between 1996 and 1997, female defendants were more likely to receive more lenient sentencing than the guidelines called for in comparison to similarly matched male defendants. White women were more likely to receive downward sentencing departures from prosecutors while women of color were more likely to receive downward sentencing departures from judges. While it appears that females receive more lenient treatment at the hands of prosecutors and judges despite Federal sentencing guidelines, there may be many reasons for the leniency that deserve future research attention. Data were drawn from the Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentencing data from 1996-1997 and were used to test two main research hypotheses: (1) women are more likely to receive either judge- or prosecutor-motivated departures from Guidelines in comparison to men, and (2) White women are more likely than women of color to receive either judge- or prosecutor-motivated departures from Guidelines. All cases involving drug trafficking, which included 18,536 defendants, that were heard in Federal courts between 1996 and 1997 were examined in terms of the personal characteristics of the defendants, legally relevant characteristics such as criminal history and drug type, and courtroom processes such as pleading guilty. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the data. Future research should focus on the conditions that made female defendants more likely to received downward departures from Federal sentencing guidelines. Tables, footnotes, references, appendix