Capacity to change: the role of race & ethnicity in alternative sentencing decisions

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Authors
Moore, Nathaniel
Advisor
Rocheleau, Brandy N.
Issue Date
2020-05
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Degree
Thesis (B.?)
Department
Honors College
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Abstract

One of the greatest goals of the criminal justice system is to uphold justice. One of the major forms which this takes is assuring equality in punishment and sentencing. The present study seeks to analyze the use of alternative sentencing programs in federal property crime cases and see if there are racial or ethnic disparities in sentencing. Analysis of the federal property crime cases from the year 2018 finds that blacks and Hispanics were not significantly more or less likely to receive alternative sentences than whites were. However, it also finds that those of “other” races, such as Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Native Alaskans, were more likely than whites to receive an alternative sentence by a log odds factor of 2.85, significant at the 0.5 level. Additionally, it was found that sex, one of the control variables, held a significant relationship. Females, relative to males, had decreased log odds of receiving an alternative sentence by a factor of 3.24, significant at the 0.5 level.