Breaking news!!! Non-White men receive longer prison sentences!

Okay, not breaking news. We know systemic racism pervades the federal criminal legal system. We see it every day. We hear about it from our clients, recognize it in police reports, read it in case law. 

And now we have more hard data confirming what we know--there is racial disparity in federal sentencing. That the data is collected and reported signals progress, especially when it comes from the United States Sentencing Commission. Demographic Differences in Federal Sentencing (Nov. 2023) measures sentences imposed between 2017 and 2021. The takeaways:

• Black males received sentences 13.4 percent longer than White* males; 
• Hispanic males received sentences 11.2 percent longer than White males 
• Hispanic females received sentences 27.8 percent longer than White females
• The likelihood of receiving a probationary sentence varied substantially by gender and race
• Disparity was concentrated among individuals receiving relatively short sentences

Different decision points impact the extent of the disparity. The sentencing differences here “largely can be attributed to the initial decision of whether the sentence should include incarceration at all rather than to the length of the prison term.” In other words, White people are significantly more likely to receive federal probation than Black or Hispanic people.

This report is not a deep dive. It is not nuanced and does not factor in all the many variables that we know are in play. But that is not what it purports to do. It is a Sentencing Commission report on demographic differences in sentencing. It is about disparate impact, not intent or cause. But it acknowledges and measures racially and ethnically disparate impact and that holds value in our fight. 

-- Melody

*Read here about capitalization.