Abstract
We develop a model of a parole board contemplating whether to grant parole release to a prisoner who has finished serving his minimum sentence. The model implies a simple outcome test for racial prejudice that is based on the released inmate’s rate of recidivism and is robust to the inframarginality problem. Our model has several testable implications for which we show empirical support. Applying our test to data on all prison releases in Pennsylvania between 1999 and 2003, we find no evidence of racial prejudice.
Highlights
It has been widely documented that blacks comprise a disproportionate share of the U.S prison population
Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on all individuals who were released from prison on or after January 1, 1996 and whose maximum sentence ended by December 31, 2001, we find our model is consistent with the data if and only if we define recidivism as returning to prison due to committing a violent or sex crime
In this paper we develop a model of a Parole Board who is contemplating whether to grant parole to a prisoner who has finished serving their minimum sentence
Summary
It has been widely documented that blacks comprise a disproportionate share of the U.S prison population. We deal with the infra-marginality problem in this paper by noting that in our model, every prisoner released by the Parole Board between their minimum and maximum sentence, regardless of their characteristics, will have a recidivism rate exactly equal to the threshold set by the Parole Board. Using data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on all individuals who were released from prison on or after January 1, 1996 and whose maximum sentence ended by December 31, 2001, we find our model is consistent with the data if and only if we define recidivism as returning to prison due to committing a violent or sex crime Using this definition of recidivism, we find no evidence that the Parole Board is racially prejudiced in its discretionary parole release decisions.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
