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Guilfoyle, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-2497-7735 and Pina-Sánchez, J. orcid.org/0000-0002-9416-6022 (2024) Racially Determined Case Characteristics: Exploring Disparities in the Use of Sentencing Factors in England and Wales. The British Journal of Criminology. azae039. ISSN 0007-0955
Abstract
There is little understanding of how documented ethnic disparities in sentencing outcomes in England and Wales come to be and, consequently, how to address them. We argue that disparities in sentence outcomes could stem from how cases are constructed. We hypothesize that case characteristics determined through a high degree of judicial discretion and an assessment of the offender have a high risk of being racially determined, and therefore, operate as precursors of ethnic disparities in sentencing. We test this using Crown Court Sentencing Survey and Court Proceedings data. We identify three sentencing factors (remorse, good character and ability to rehabilitate) clearly favouring White offenders. We contextualize their operation and argue that all three should be classified as racially determined and sources of ethnic disparity. We conclude by setting out targeted policy solutions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). Tis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Atribution License (htps:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | sentencing, guidelines, disparities, ethnicity, Crown Court |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Law (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 08 Jul 2024 10:30 |
Last Modified: | 05 Feb 2025 12:28 |
Published Version: | https://academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-article/doi/1... |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/bjc/azae039 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214504 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Racially Determined Case Characteristics: Exploring Disparities in the Use of Sentencing Factors in England and Wales. (deposited 23 Aug 2024 09:46)
- Racially Determined Case Characteristics: Exploring Disparities in the Use of Sentencing Factors in England and Wales. (deposited 08 Jul 2024 10:30) [Currently Displayed]