Today the U.S. Sentencing Commission published the 2023 Demographic Differences in Federal Sentencing Report, available here. The report updated research on demographic differences in federal sentencing finding that—after controlling for available personal and offense characteristics—sentencing differences across demographic groups persisted during the five years following the Commission’s often-cited 2017 Demographic Differences in Sentencing Report.
Summary of Findings
The Report finds that, in the data the Commission examined, demographic differences in sentencing can largely be attributed to the initial decision whether to sentence an individual to imprisonment, rather than to the length of a prison term once a decision to impose imprisonment has been made.
The Commission’s research found substantial variation by gender and race in the likelihood of a defendant receiving a probation sentence.
- Black males were 23.4% less likely to receive probation compared to White males.
- Hispanic males were 26.6% less likely to receive probation compared to White males.
- Black females were 11.2% less likely to receive probation than White females.
- Hispanic females were 29.7% less likely to receive probation than White females.
When the analyses focused solely on cases in which the court imposed a sentence of imprisonment (94% of the individuals sentenced), the Commission found that the sentencing differences were less pronounced than when probation sentences were included.
- Black males received prison sentences that were 4.7% longer than White males.
- Hispanic male received prison sentences that were 1.9% longer than White males.
- Hispanic females received prison sentences that were 5.9% shorter than White females. Other comparisons among females were not statistically significant.