Yet, racial disparities in sentencing outcomes and incarceration rates continue to give rise to serious questions about how and through what processes race continues to affect sentencing outcomes. In this essay, we will review the scholarly research on race and sentencing, and discuss a number of important sentencing reforms that have taken place in the U.S. over the past three decades in response to evidence of disparate racial treatment and to pressure from advocates for reform. ... Understanding why, how, and under what contexts defendant race affects sentencing decisions is crucial to ad...

• Word Count: 2620
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate