Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
Criminal Justice and Criminology
Date of Award
8-2015
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Courtney Crittenden
Committee Members
Gregory Rocheleau, Jennifer Pealer
Abstract
Previous research has found significant effects of gender, race, and age on sentencing decisions made by state and local court judges (e.g. Johnson, 2003; Mustard, 2001; Steffensmeier, Ulmer, & Kramer, 1998). The current study used criminal district court data from two counties in western North Carolina to further research of the effects of the aforementioned variables on sentencing. Using knowledge acquired from past studies, the hypotheses for the current study asserted that younger offenders, male offenders, and nonwhite offenders would be more likely to be found guilty of their offense and receive fines than their respective offender counterparts. The results of the binary regression analysis models did not support many of the proposed hypotheses; however, significant relationships unsupervised probation, supervised probation, and active time were found with defendants who used privately retained counsel. Implications are discussed, as well as limitations and research recommendations for the future.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Miller, April, "The Effects of Gender, Race, and Age on Judicial Sentencing Decisions" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2546. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2546
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.