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                            Library & Multimedia
 Separating and Estimating the Effects of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the Federal Mandatory "Minimums": Isolating the Sources of Racial Disparity" A Summary of Research
NCJ Number
              186195

Author(s)
          Paula M. Kautt
Date Published

January 2000
Length
              17 pages
Annotation
              This research attempts to separate the effects of the Federal
mandatory minimum statutes from the Federal sentencing guidelines
statutes in determining whether the mandatory minimums are the
main contributor to the recent increase in racial disparity of
imprisonment and sentence length at the Federal level
Abstract
              The analysis uses 1992 U.S. Sentencing Commission data in
examining the separate effects of mandatory minimums and the
guidelines on sentencing. In the first step, analyses model the
impact of the independent variables, including race, on the two dependent variables (incarceration and sentence length) for the entire 1992 data set. In step two, the 1992 sentencing data set is divided into the subsets of drug, firearms, robbery, and
"other" remaining offenses. Each of these sets then undergoes
separate analysis. In the third and final stage, the robbery
offense subset is divided into those offenses falling under a
mandatory minimum offense and those that do not; the firearms
offense subset is subdivided into those cases that involve
mandatory minimum statute 18USC section 924 and those that do
not. Finally, the drug offense subset is divided into four
additional subsets, one for each of the three remaining mandatory
minimum drug offenses and the fourth composed of any remaining
drug offenses.  This breakdown enables separation of the effects
of the mandatory minimums from those of the guidelines. Findings
show that the predictors of sentencing outcomes varied
significantly by both offense type and specific statute. Findings
support the two hypotheses that the significant predictors of
imprisonment will vary significantly by offense type and specific
statute. Findings also support the hypothesis that defendant race
is a significant predictor of sentence length but not of
incarceration in the general offense model. The hypothesis that
race and other extralegal factors would be stronger predictors of
sentence outcomes in mandatory-minimum than in guideline cases,
however, was refuted by the findings. Partial support was found
for the hypothesis that predicted the effect of race would be
greater for mandatory minimum drug offenses than for other
mandatory minimums. For the full report, see NCJ-186196. 20
references
      
  
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Date Published: January 1, 2000
    
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                Sentence length
        Sentencing
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        Federal sentencing guidelines



  
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