Leymon 22
This study indicates that “fixed” sentencing reforms have had a disproportionate effect on African
American and Hispanic imprisonment rates. Why this disparity exists is not fully explained in this
analysis. Previous research has indicated that while the discretion previously held by judges under
indeterminate sentencing may have been removed from the judges under “fixed” sentencing reforms, it
has not been removed from the process. It is possible that sentencing reforms have inadvertently given
more discretionary power to prosecutors, which might reproduce or exacerbate the racial bias “fixed”
sentencing reforms were intended to address (Kempf-Leonard and Simple, 2001). Other research has
indicated that African Americans are more likely to be convicted of a relatively minor crime (Marbley
and Ferguson, 2005; Shane-DuBow, 1998). If true, an increase in black imprisonment rates may be
linked to “fixed” sentencing reforms through their greater emphasis on prior record (particularly for a
drug crimes) as a determinate of sentencing length (Baum, 1996; Inciadi et al., 1996; McShane and
Williams, 1997). An association between “fixed” sentencing reforms and sentencing for second offense
drug crimes, which disproportionately effect blacks, may lead to higher imprisonment rates. When this
information is combined with the political desire to ratchet up the penalties on drug crimes, the
connection between race and drug crimes as a driving force of a disparity in sentencing becomes more
plausible. Future research should focus on determining why guidelines have affected African Americans
and Hispanic imprisonment rates more than the rates for other groups (Gainey et al., 2005). Analysis with
inclusion of racially disaggregated data for crime rates, poverty rates, and unemployment rates may be
able to shed some light onto other possible effects as well.
After controlling for violent crime rates, drug crime rates, percent black, percent Hispanic, percent
white, poverty rates, unemployment rates, new commitments to prison, and parole violators returned to
prison, sentencing guidelines remain positively associated with imprisonment rates, indicating that
guidelines are directly related to a portion of the nearly 500% increase in imprisonment over the length of
this study. Legislators should take this finding into consideration when designing guidelines. The costs
Convention