White privilege means serving less prison time than a black person who commits the EXACT SAME crime

[Cali_Democrat]

Blacks Receive 60% Longer Sentences For Same Crimes

A new study by M. Marit Rehavi of the University of British Columbia and Sonja B. Starr of the University of Michigan Law School shows that Black Americans receive almost 60% long prison sentences than white Americans who committed the same crime.

The study covered 58,000 federal criminal cases and found that there was a significant difference between the sentences given to Black people to those given to white people.

<...>

According to M. Marit Rehavi of the University of British Columbia and Sonja B. Starr, who teaches criminal law at the University of Michigan Law School, the racial disparities can be explained “in a single prosecutorial decision: whether to file a charge carrying a mandatory minimum sentence….Black men were on average more than twice as likely to face a mandatory minimum charge as white men were, holding arrest offense as well as age and location constant.” Prosecutors are about twice as likely to impose mandatory minimums on black defendants as on white defendants.

http://newsone.com/1859475/black-people-receive-60-longer-sentences-for-same-crimes/

Yes, white privilege is real.

[Kali]

1. white privilege

means not even being arrested in the first place for the same "crime"

[Blue_Tires]

2. or successfully using the "affluenza" defense...

[redqueen]

3. Funny how the rich kids get away with crime because they're rich...

meanwhile those living in poverty 'bring it on themselves' and are told 'it's no excuse'.

[Rex]

5. And yet I keep hearing there is no Class Warfare going on right now.

Which might be true since the wealthy seem to have won without a shot fired. We almost live in a caste system.

[Cali_Democrat]

4. True!

[Michigander_Life]

6. Is it controlled for criminal conviction history?

This mind of blatant, institutional racism needs to stop. Today.

[Cali_Democrat]

8. Yes it is:

From the OP:

Black men were on average more than twice as likely to face a mandatory minimum charge as white men were, holding arrest offense as well as age and location constant.” Prosecutors are about twice as likely to impose mandatory minimums on black defendants as on white defendants.

Numerous studies have confirmed the same thing, not just this one. All come to the same conclusion....blacks serve longer prison sentences for the same crimes. Add to that the fact that blacks are more likely to be arrested in the first place, and it becomes obvious why blacks are disproportionately represented in prison.

[Michigander_Life]

9. That's not what I was asking (I think)

I meant if someone has a conviction for a crime, they are likely to receive a higher sentence for their next conviction -- that's what I'm wondering if there is a control for.

I am certain that even if it isn't controlled for, the numbers will still show a significant disparity.

[Igel]

10. And that's an important variable to control for.

I suspect mandatory minimums apply where there's a prior history. I think you can get around that by plea bargaining, so that the crime's different.

From the OP, they looked at arrest offense. Not what charges were filed.

Prosecutors also file charges based on how the attorney for the defense negotiates early on. Does he present exculpatory evidence? Mitigating evidence? Does the defense cooperate with the prosecution in some way?

I can see these things showing community-based differences. If you're in "fight the fuzz" mode you're not going to cooperate, and you might want to fight instead of plea bargain. The case that went parallel to the Trayvon Martin case, the Alexander woman who discharged a gun in her ex's house, went that route and got the mandatory minimum even when a plea bargain was offered.

But also there's the irritating truth that public defenders are overworked and more likely to *not* engage the prosecution ahead of time. So you don't get the same kind of give and take. There's a racial skew there, but it's more of an economic skew that's mirrored in racial demographics.


Wiki says that a prosecutor has prosecutorial discretion--not Wiki's term, but appropriate--in deciding to file notice of prior felony convictions with the court. If the prosecution doesn't file, then the court doesn't see the prior conviction and is under no obligation to apply the mandatory minimum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_sentencing#Race_and_mandatory_sentencing


To do the study to find reliable truth--rather than to make a point--the researchers would have to have to compare two groups with the same properties, and preferably pairs of groups with the same properties, but controlled for the need for a public defender, previous criminal history, willingness to cooperate, location, and even the actual crime (let's face it--grand theft auto and murder probably elicit different responses from the prosecutor). That's if we want to see how race affects the prosecutor's choices, not how race correlates with the defendant's choices or limits on the defendant's choices, or just show that if we do a quick skimming of the data we can find something that's putatively attributable to race.

(Then again, I generally hate social science research because it argues for advocacy prior to reliable knowledge. Too often it aims to support a hypothesis, not falsify it, and when necessary the dredge is called out to rake through the data.)

[Nye Bevan]

7. The racial disparity in death sentences is also appalling

and is reason enough alone to abolish capital punishment (along with all of the many other reasons). I find it shocking that so many DUers support capital punishment given the vastly disproportionate number of black people that it kills.