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59 Crime & Delinquency 3 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/cadq59 and id is 1 raw text is: Article Crime & Delinquency 59(1) 3-31I The Dangerous Drug @The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permission: Offender in Federal sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0011128708319928 Court: Intersections http://cad.sagepub.com of Race, Ethnicityand OSAGE Culpability Cassia Spohn' and Lisa L. Sample2 Abstract This study examines the complex relationships among stereotypes about crime, the offender's race/ethnicity, and sentencing decisions. Using data on White, Black, and Hispanic male drug offenders sentenced in three U.S. district courts and a definition of the dangerous drug offender appropriate to the federal sentence system, the authors explore the degree to which stereotypes about dangerous drug offenders influence sentence length.The results reveal that fitting the stereotype of a dangerous federal drug offender (i.e., a male drug trafficker with a prior trafficking conviction who used a weapon to commit the current offense) affected the length of the prison sentence for Black offenders but not for White or Hispanic offenders. Further analysis revealed that this effect was confined to Black offenders convicted of drug offenses involving crack cocaine. The results provide further evidence that the focal concerns guiding judicial decision making may vary depending on the offender's race or ethnicity. Keywords federal sentencing guidelines, sentencing disparity, drug offenders Social scientists have conducted dozens of studies designed to untangle the relationship between race and sentence severity (for reviews, see Chiricos & 'Arizona State University 2University of Nebraska at Omaha Corresponding Author: Cassia Spohn Email: cassia.spohn@asu.edu

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