Examining Race and Ethnicity in Pennsylvania Murder Charge Reductions
Open Access
- Author:
- Parker, Brandy Rae
- Graduate Program:
- Criminology
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- December 17, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Jeffery Todd Ulmer, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- prosecutorial discretion; race/ethnicity; charge reductions
- Abstract:
- Despite concern about unwarranted racial and ethnic disparity in criminal justice outcomes, little empirical attention has been paid to discretionary case processing decisions made by the prosecutor prior to sentencing. This gap potentially masks important and meaningful disparities that occur in stages prior to sentencing that influence sentencing decisions. In Pennsylvania, there is substantial disproportionality in the numbers of Black and Hispanic defendants convicted of first and second degree murder relative to their share of the population. I use a newly created dataset integrating court and prosecution files with sentencing and corrections data for first, second, and third degree murder charges in Pennsylvania from 2000-2010 to examine whether the likelihood of receiving a murder charge reduction (that is, being convicted of a charge less serious than the initial murder charge(s) filed by the prosecutor) varies systematically by race and ethnicity. The results suggest that there is selection into conviction by race, such that Black defendants are less likely to be convicted than non-Black defendants. The conviction finding is explained by differences between courts. I also find that Black but not Hispanic defendants are less likely to receive charge reductions than White defendants until controlling for discretionary decisions highly influenced by prosecutors. Additionally, I find a harsher trial penalty effect for Black defendants than White defendants. There are also racial differences by the type of charge reduction received, although in opposing directions. Of the two types of charge reductions, Black defendants are more likely than White defendants to receive a lesser murder conviction while Black defendants are more likely than White defendants to receive a non-murder conviction when controlling for discretionary decisions highly influenced by prosecutors. Overall the results suggest that discretionary decisions made by prosecutors have non-trivial effects on homicide case outcomes in Pennsylvania.