Charge reductions favor White and Asian defendants over Black and Hispanic ones

Evidence

The study also analyzed prosecutorial charging decisions in cases involving Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White defendants (Kutateladze, 2018). Specifically we looked at charge decreases, increases, and no change at three essential decision points—case screening for prosecution, arraignment, and final disposition. The results show that, overall, screening and disposition were much more dynamic decision points than was arraignment and that one-third of cases experienced a charge decrease at some point. Even though racial differences in charge reductions at case screening were not large, at arraignment and disposition, as well as cumulatively, Black and Hispanic defendants were less likely than White defendants to have charges decreased. Conversely, Asian defendants experienced even more favorable outcomes than White defendants as they were more likely to have charges reduced and less likely to experience an increase in charges. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 568

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the discrimination literature on racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes, specifically the ‘favorable treatment’ asymmetry that extends to Asian defendants.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 568