Analyses in 2014 by Sonja Starr and Marit Rehavi, cited in this story, found that all other factors being equal, black offenders were 75% more likely to face a charge carrying a mandatory minimum sentence than a white offender who committed the same crime. This prosecutorial discretion helps account for the black-white gap in federal prison sentences – with black men who commit the same crimes as white men receiving over 19% longer terms, according to the US Sentencing Commission.

More about Starr’s findings account for some of the 19% black-white gap in federal sentencing >