[USA] Neighborhood Effects on Felony Sentencing
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 44, No. 2, 238-263 (2007)
http://jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/2/238
John Wooldredge
"The relatively high imprisonment rates of African American men from poor neighbourhoods raise a question of whether felony sentences are influenced by ecological factors, separately from or in conjunction with a defendant's race. Findings revealed that convicted offenders from more disadvantaged neighbourhoods were more likely to receive nonsuspended prison sentences, whereas a defendant's race was unrelated to imprisonment. By contrast, neighbourhood disadvantage was unrelated to sentence length for imprisoned defendants, whereas African Americans received significantly shorter terms relative to Whites. The processes through which ecological context may operate to affect sentence severity are discussed."
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