NCJ Number
225250
Journal
Criminal Justice Review Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 502-523
Date Published
December 2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relationship between felony offenders’ prior record, race/ethnicity, current offense, and sentencing outcomes.
Abstract
Results indicate that prior record influences sentencing decisions in a complex manner. The likelihood of imprisonment would be affected differently by different types of prior records. Prior convictions for various types of offenses influence the odds of imprisonment to different extents. Specifically, both in general and across current offense types, prior criminal histories involving violent offenses produce the greatest impact on the likelihood of imprisonment compared to histories involving property and drug offenses. Similarly, prior incarcerations also produce relatively strong effects on the decision to incarcerate. Although race does have a conditioning effect on prior record, the effect is not necessarily straightforward; different dimensions of prior record interact with race or ethnicity, depending on the current type of crime. Therefore measures of prior record that do not account for the type or severity of that record may mask important differences in the effects of criminal history on offenders of different races. There are also important differences in the influence of prior record and race across sentencing policies; prior record, particularly prior incarcerations are more influential under more restrictive guidelines. Conversely, race and ethnicity appear to play larger roles under the greater-discretion-granting policy. Data were collected from the Florida Department of Corrections' (DOCs') analysis of 567,061 cases representing violent, drug, and property offense felons sentenced to DOC control in Florida from 1994 through 2002. Tables, notes, references