Racial Disparities in the Charging of Los Angeles County's Third Strike Cases

• NCJ Number: 152711
• Author(s): V Schiraldi; M Godfrey
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 3 pages
• Corporate Author: Ctr on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; Ctr on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Based on data presented by the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office for the first six months after passage of Assembly Bill 971 (the "three strikes" bill), this report compares the general population of white and black residents of Los Angeles to the percentage breakdown of all felony filings and third-strike filings.

Abstract

The results show that whites make up 36.6 percent of the Los Angeles population, 19.7 percent of persons charged with felonies, and 12.6 percent of those charged with third-strike crimes. In contrast, blacks comprise 10 percent of the population, 30.5 percent of Los Angeles felony filings, and 57.3 percent of those charged with third-strike felonies. These data corroborate other studies that have found that blacks are overrepresented at every stage of the American criminal justice system and are singled out for harsher punishments. 2 figures