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Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance
Federal Sentencing; Sentencing Gaps; Booker; Oaxaca Decomposition
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Changes In The Black-White Sentencing Gap After United States V. Booker, 2008-17, Shuhao Zhang
Changes In The Black-White Sentencing Gap After United States V. Booker, 2008-17, Shuhao Zhang
Student Theses
The Black-White sentencing gap, as defined by the differences between the average sentences received by Black defendants and those by White defendants, is an under- research area. In the federal court, after United States v. Booker, this gap has decreased from 25 months in 2008-2010 to 0 in 2016-2107. By using Oaxaca decomposition, I find that the differences in criminal history, offense levels, and pretrial detention status between Black and White defendants are the main source of the gap. The unexplained portion of the gap, resulting from judges finding Black defendants more culpable to their offenses and thus imposing harsher …