The American justice system has come under close scrutiny over the past few years. A multitude of heartbreaking cases from Eric Garner to Tamir Rice have sparked movements calling for a comprehensive overhaul of both police and court systems. And now, more scientific studies than ever are backing up these calls with hard evidence of racial bias.
The newest study on racial bias in the courtroom comes via South Carolina. First published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology it examines how a judge’s inherent racial bias might impact sentencing between those found guilty of similar crimes.
There have been prior studies that have looked into this issue before. One notable study from 2005 found that younger black and Latino men were given harsher sentences for committing the same crimes as white offenders.
Yet in this new study, the cases they looked at were not from a broad spectrum of offenders, including violent crimes, where most people would conclude a harsh prison sentence is either mandatory or preferred. Rather, it focused on “liberation bias,” where lesser, nonviolent crimes allow judges to use their own discretion when it came to sentencing.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield analyzed over 17,000 court cases from South Carolina and found that, “Black people with lower levels of criminal history were more likely than white people to be jailed, with the likelihood of incarceration increasing by as much as 43 per cent for those with no past criminal history to ten per cent for those with moderate criminal history.”
However, interestingly when severity of the crime was intensified, white offenders actually received longer average sentences than their black counterparts. Meaning petty crimes have a much higher impact on incarceration overall within the nation, and within the black community.
And these penalties on low-level, nonviolent offenders have the most substantial impact on the US prison system. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, more than half of those in prison are there for nonviolent offenses, with a whopping 46.6 percent being drug offenses. Compare that to those convicted of homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and sexual crimes (in other words, the people we actually want in prison) and combined those criminals only make up 10.8 percent of the prison population.
When looking at a judge’s “liberation bias” on smaller charges, like drugs and theft, it’s easy to see how those within the black community are impacted. This was something Dr. Todd Hartman, who worked on the study for the University of Sheffield, wanted to explore:
“Whether intentional or not, the fact that race appears to influence incarceration and criminal sentencing decisions is troubling. It is particularly concerning that this pattern of disparity appears to be affecting African American offenders with limited criminal histories or for less severe crimes.”
Dr. Hartman went on to say that he hopes the hard data provided in the study can influence the way those involved in the criminal justice system review their inherent bias. And while many of us might view the results of this study as common sense, it’s important to keep in mind that for those who make policy or try to effect change, hard peer-reviewed data is absolutely necessary. And for the justice system, it is another scathing indictment that justice in this country is far from blind.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy