Work

Understanding Race Disparities in Criminal Court Outcomes

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We construct a framework that defines optimal outcomes in criminal courts, and we use this framework to interpret and organize the existing literature on racial disparities in pretrial detention, sentencing, and community corrections outcomes. Existing research indicates that some actors within courts and within the agencies that implement the sentences that courts impose make decisions that are contaminated by racial animus or racially biased assessments of the recidivism risks posed by some offenders. However, the most important sources of racial disparities in case outcomes are numerous practices, regulations, and laws that are too punitive—that is, their social costs are likely greater than any derived social benefits. Since minorities, especially Blacks, face arrest at much higher rates than Whites, they bear large disparate impacts from such policies.

Source: RSF The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

DOI: 10.7758/rsf.2025.11.3.03

Authors: Shawn Bushway, Andrew Jordan, Derek Neal, Steven Raphael

Institutions: State University of New York, University at Albany, State University of New York, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W7092552603