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IMAGES OF DANGER AND CULPABILITY: RACIAL STEREOTYPING, CASE PROCESSING, AND CRIMINAL SENTENCING *
Author(s) -
STEEN SARA,
ENGEN RODNEY L.,
GAINEY RANDY R.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00013.x
Subject(s) - culpability , punitive damages , criminology , psychology , stereotype (uml) , race (biology) , criminal justice , white (mutation) , social psychology , law , sociology , political science , gender studies , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
In this paper we argue that the meaning of race in criminal justice decision making will vary depending on other offender and offense characteristics, and that differences in treatment within races may therefore be as large as differences between races. We find that, among adult drug offenders from Washington State, those white offenders who most closely resemble the stereotype of a dangerous drug offender receive significantly harsher treatment than other white offending groups, while among black offenders, it is the defendants who least resemble a dangerous drug offender who receive substantially different—in this case, less punitive—treatment than other black offenders. That is, the exceptions are made for the most serious and the least serious offenders. We discuss the implications of these findings.