Racial Disparities in Federal Drug Sentencing

Abstract

Racial disparity in the criminal justice field is a widely debated topic and impacts the lives of millions of American citizens, and individuals across the world. This thesis aims to analyze the discrepancies within the criminal justice system, in relation to sentencing. The literature review within this thesis will delve into disparity within other avenues of the criminal justice system, such as policing, arrests, and traffic stops. This thesis suggests that federal judges sentence African American people more harshly for drug offenses. In order to test this hypothesis, data from the Federal Prisoner Report was pulled from the ICPSR website. This thesis analyzed cases from 2016-2021, with a sample size of 103,000 offenders. After analyzing the research, it was determined that African American men receive a sentence that is approximately 30% longer than Caucasian men for similarly committed drug crimes.