Economic Competition and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing: A Test of Economic Threat Perspective

Christopher D’Amato,Bryan Holmes,Ben Feldmeyer

doi:10.3390/socsci10060206

Abstract

Economic threat arguments within the broader racial/ethnic threat theory suggest that economic competition between minorities and Whites encourages the majority group to apply formal social controls on minorities to maintain their advantaged positions. Prior sentencing research has given limited attention to economic threat and has only done so using cross-sectional measures, which does not capture changing economic circumstances (a key element of racial/ethnic threat). The goal of this study is to provide a test of economic threat—and racial/ethnic threat more broadly—utilizing time variant measures. To achieve this goal, we use case-level data from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission (N = 122,666) and county-level data from the United States Census Bureau. Multilevel regression models reveal partial but limited support for economic threat. Specifically, counties with a growing portion of minorities living above the poverty line between 2000 and 2010 had larger minority disadvantages (in comparison to Whites) at incarceration. However, economic threat measures do not significantly contextualize minority–White sentence length differences, while the broader racial/ethnic threat measures do not significantly influence minority–White outcomes at the incarceration or sentencing length decision. The results suggest that economic threat may explain a small but limited portion of the racial disparities identified.

Highlights

Over the past several decades, research has consistently shown that racial/ethnic minority defendants are exposed to harsher sentencing outcomes than situated White defendants (Spohn 2000; Ulmer and Parker 2020; Zatz 1987)
Racial threat theory is a conflict perspective (Chambliss 1976) which argues that formal social controls, such as criminal justice sanctions, are used by the dominant group in society to control the behavior of groups who threaten their dominant status
Understanding the persistent racial/ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system has been a consistent focus of scholars for many decades

Summary

Introduction

Over the past several decades, research has consistently shown that racial/ethnic minority defendants are exposed to harsher sentencing outcomes than situated White defendants (Spohn 2000; Ulmer and Parker 2020; Zatz 1987). Given these persistent disparities, researchers have been tasked with explaining why they exist (Mears et al 2016). Racial/ethnic threat theory argues that as minority groups grow in power, the majority group will increasingly use criminal justice sanctions (e.g., longer sentences) as a vehicle to “tame” minority populations advances (Blalock 1967; Blumer 1958; Feldmeyer and Cochran 2018). Others have found that racial/ethnic threat theory only applies to certain sentencing outcomes or situations (Feldmeyer and Ulmer 2011; Feldmeyer et al 2015; Ulmer and Johnson 2004)

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Discussion

Conclusion