This study assessing the impact of victim and defendant race on case screening, bail, and sentencing outcomes finds that disregarding initial gatekeeping stages of criminal justice case processing may lead to the mistaken conclusion that racial disparities do not exist.
The results of this study suggest that disregarding initial gatekeeping stages of criminal justice case processing may lead to the mistaken conclusion that racial disparities do not exist. This study examines the impact of victim and defendant race on case screening, bail, and sentencing outcomes for 1,131 firearm offenses that occurred between 2015 and 2018 in St. Louis, MO. Regressions modeling the relationships between each outcome and victim and defendant race (estimated separately and as defendant-victim racial dyads) find that cases involving Black victims, alone and in combination with Black defendants, are more likely than others to be dismissed by prosecutors during case screening, whereas legally relevant factors affect bail and sentencing outcomes. (Published Abstract Provided)