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SAGE Journal User Guide

Franklin, T. W., & Fearn, N. E. (2010). Sentencing Asian offenders in state courts: The influence of a prevalent stereotype. Crime & Delinquency. Prepublished November 7, 2010. DOI: 10.1177/0011128710386200

A significant body of literature has developed to explain the controversial issue of sentencing disparity among various racial/ethnic groups. According to the focal concerns perspective, judges may rely on race-based stereotypes, among other factors, in reaching sentencing outcomes. This contention has received support by the empirical literature when examining sentencing differences that emerge between similarly situated White, Black, and Hispanic offenders. Unfortunately, very little research has addressed the relative treatment of Asian offenders to determine whether stereotypes that commonly target these individuals—particularly the “model minority” stereotype—emerge as a potential extralegal factor in judicial sentencing decisions. To address this shortcoming, the current study employs a large sample of offenders processed by state courts to examine the sentencing of Asians relative to White, Black, and Hispanic offenders. Findings are consistent with a focal concerns/model minority perspective and indicate that Asians are, in fact, treated more leniently than other racial/ethnic groups at the incarceration decision. This extralegal disparity, however, does not emerge during the sentence length decision. Implications for theory, policy, and future research are discussed.

Rodriguez, N. (2003). The impact of “strikes” in sentencing decisions: Punishment for only some habitual offenders. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 14, 106-127.

Sentencing research has continued to address how legal and extralegal variables influence sentencing decisions. However, little attention has been given to how the implementation of habitual offender laws has influenced the sentencing of repeat, violent offenders. In this study, criminal history record and prior strike offenses are used to measure sentence length of convicted felony offenders in Washington State. By using both additive and interactive models, findings show that the influence of criminal history record and prior strikes on sentencing decisions is indirectly related to offense type (i.e., person, property, sex, and drug cases). Findings shed light on the various measures of prior record and their role in sentencing research.

Tang, C. M., Nunez, N., & Bourgeois, M. (2009). Effects of trial venue and pretrial bias on the evaluation of juvenile defendants. Criminal Justice Review, 34(2), 210-225.

This research examines how the public evaluates juvenile defendants tried in different venues and whether participants with different pretrial dispositions evaluate these juvenile defendants differently. In Study 1, 144 undergraduate students judge juveniles tried as adults more harshly than adult defendants or juveniles who were tried in the juvenile court. Prosecution-biased participants judge all defendants more harshly than defense-biased participants. In Study 2, 123 community residents are recruited. Findings of Study 1 are largely replicated. In addition, defense-biased participants are more likely than prosecution-biased participants to endorse the wayward youth stereotype instead of the superpredator stereotype of juvenile defendants. Implications for juvenile justice and further research on the evaluation of juvenile defendants and pretrial bias are discussed.