Effect of Defendant Race on Criminal Sentencing

Effect of Defendant Race on Criminal Sentencing Lauren Drew, Lindsay Ludwig, Amanda Nocton

Introduction • Current Issues • CBS Article

Literature Review • Dion (2003) • Social Dominance Theory • Legitimizing myths • Dovidio, Smith, Donnella & Gaertner (1997) • Aversive racism perspective

Literature Review (cont.) • Sommers and Ellsworth (2000,2001) • Role of race in judicial proceedings • Cochran and Chamlin (2006) • Factors influencing sentencing • Political affiliation

Hypothesis • Our study was designed to examine the effect of race on sentencing in a court of law. • The African American defendant would receive a longer sentence than either the White man or the man who was not given a race

Methods • Online experiment • 46 participants • 54% female • 3 participants were dropped because it appeared that they took the study more than once • Participants were randomly assigned to read one of three stories

Participants • Ethnicities- • White/Caucasian (87%) • Other (13%)

Case Number: IN 06/23/42/8857 Incident: Automobile Accident Reporting Officer: C. J. Thomas Date of Report: 21 August 2006

The incident occurred approximately at 7:47 pm Friday on the 21st of August 2006. Conditions were normal- no rain, snow or ice on the roads, and no significant amount of fog. James Lanum, a 27 year old African American male who drove a 1998 black Honda Accord was rounding the corner of Shuttle Street going 57 mph when he claims to have dropped a c.d. on the passenger's side floor. Attempting to recover the fallen item, he bent over to pick it up, taking his eyes off of the road momentarily.

When he looked back up he discovered that he was riding the middle of the road, about to have a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle. James Lanum managed to turn the wheel and got off with just a side swipe. The driver of the approaching vehicle, a blue 2002 Plymouth Acclaim, also swerved in an attempt to avoid contact, but inevitably the car ran off the road, crashing into the side railing, flipping the car on its side. The airbags were set off upon impact, and the front windshield was shattered. Although all wore seatbelts, there were three fatalities as a result of this accident.

The bodies of the three passengers were later identified as Clayton Ford a 39 year old male, his wife Michelle Ford, 37, and their 4 year old son Tommy Ford. Neighbors stated the family was on their way to the grocery store. James Lanum was the sole survivor of the accident. • Asked to sentence defendant • 0-20 years

Results and Discussion • Sentences for the defendant did not differ significantly between the three stories, F (2, 42) = .817, p = .449. • Non-significant trend in average sentence • Figure 1

Figure 1

Conclusion • While our hypothesis that the African American defendant would receive a harsher sentence was not supported by our research, there were interesting trends that did appear to support our original beliefs.

Limitations • Homogenous population • Mostly Caucasian/White • Same age range • Small sample size • Participants might not have taken it seriously

Importance of Research • Racism in criminal sentencing is still a problem today • Understanding factors that may influence sentencing can help ensure there is a fair trial

Effect of Defendant Race on Criminal Sentencing