Race and Revocation: Is There a Penalty for Young, Minority Males?

• NCJ Number: 218124
• Journal: Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: 2006 Pages: 1-25
• Author(s): Michael Tapia; Patricia M. Harris
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using a large cohort of subjects sentenced to felony probation in a large south-central State, this study tested the hypothesis that the odds of having probation revoked will be highest for young, male Black or Hispanic probationers who are unemployed.

Abstract

The study found that Black probationers ages 17-29 experienced higher revocation odds than any other probationer group. Their revocation rates were 227 percent higher than White males ages 30-39. The only other groups to show a statistically significant relationship with revocation were Blacks ages 30-39, who had twice the odds of revocation as White probationers. Unemployed Blacks faced the highest odds of revocation compared to employed young Whites, and the revocation odds faced by employed young Black males were twice the odds for unemployed young White males. With a few nuances, revocation decisions for Hispanic probationers did not differ much from those for White probationers. These findings generally coincide with findings of recent studies that have focused on the interaction of race, age, and gender in discretionary criminal-justice decisionmaking. Data on the subjects of this revocation analysis came from a larger study of the 4,929 individuals who entered felony probation in a large south-central State during October 1993 and who were subsequently monitored for 3 years. A subset of 1,514 White, Hispanic, and Black probationers were the subjects for the current study. One multivariate analysis examined the main effects of race, sex, age, employment, and all control variables on the decision to revoke probation. Another analysis focused on the effects of age and employment on revocation, partitioned by gender and race. A third analysis examined the interaction of the race and age variables on revocation. The fourth analysis examined the interaction or race and employment for all males and then for young males ages 17-25. 5 tables and 59 references