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Starr’s findings account for some of the 19% black-white gap in federal sentencing
November 17, 2017
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.
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