Individual resources, societal reaction, and sentencing disparity : a replication

Abstract

There has been widespread concern among criminologists in recent years involving the problem of inequalities in sentencing. The major focus of the criminologists' concern is that sentencing decisions that are attached to the conviction of a defendant may be being made in a social context that undermines equal treatment before the law. Indeed, some theorists have provided evidence that judicial decisions are made according to a host of extra-legal factors, including the age of the offender, his race and social class.

However, research bearing on the influence of extralegal factors in sentencing provides conflicting evidence. On the one hand, studies report sentencing differences by race, socio-economic status, and other legally irrelevant variables. In contrast are research findings that have found the relationship between sentencing and the extra-legal variables removed when the effects of certain legal variables (offense seriousness, the number of prior convictions, and the number of current charges) are controlled.

The objective of the present study, therefore, is to provide additional information regarding the extent to which extra-legal variables influence the sentencing decision. Specifically, the researcher will attempt to supply a factual and theoretical perspective on the sentencing process in Cumberland County, New Jersey. This will be accomplished by investigating the factors which underlie variation in the gravity of the penalties meted out of convicted high misdemeanor offenders during the years 1974 and 1975.