A newly released report by the United States Sentencing Commission found that black male offenders received sentences that were significantly longer than “similarly situated” white male offenders when tried in federal court, even when their crimes were absolutely the same.
On November 14, the nation’s Sentencing Commission (USSC) released its new publication, Demographic Differences in Sentencing. Among the key findings of the 43-page report, the commission discovered that sentences received by black male offenders were, on average, 19.1 percent longer than “similarly situated white male offenders.”
This newest report is the third such examination of sentencing discrepancies, made by the USSC, which is, by the way, a bipartisan, independent agency that was created by Congress in 1984 to “reduce sentencing disparities and promote transparency and proportionality in sentencing.” (Commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.)
In 2010, and in 2012, the commission published very similar reports that examined how the length of sentences imposed on federal offenders might be affected by the “demographic characteristics of those offenders,” once the BSSC researchers had controlled for such variables as type of offense, criminal history, and weapons possession.
In each case, federal researchers found that black men got sentences that were approximately 20 percent higher than those of white men for the same crime—even once all the other main variables were factored in.
To continue reading this article by Celeste Fremon, go to: http://witnessla.com/black-men...says-new-fed-report/
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