From left: Nancy Rodríguez, Santiago Campos Rodríguez, Aaron Sullivan and Joanna WilliamsSullivanAaron Sullivan
Unique policy brief uncovers disparities based on race, ethnicity and gender
While it is well-documented that criminal justice practices in the U.S. disproportionately impact historically underrepresented groups and lead to social inequality and exclusion, there is scant research drilling down on the racial and ethnic disparities. A team of UCI researchers is working on addressing this gap.
UC Irvine researchers led by criminology, law & society Professor Nancy Rodriguez recently published the policy brief “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Local Criminal Justice Systems.” Rodriguez and her UC Irvine co-authors — economics doctoral candidates Santiago Campos Rodriguez and Joanna Williams and postdoctoral scholar Aaron Sullivan — moved beyond the standard binary measures of race used in criminal justice research and examined racial and ethnic subgroups (i.e., Black, Latino and white) in criminal justice administrative data from Harris County, Texas and Multnomah County, Oregon.
Created with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the policy brief builds on previous research, with the ultimate goal to reduce racial and ethnic disparities and over-incarceration in America.
“Data from the Safety and Justice Challenge allowed us to estimate these disparities at key stages, from pretrial detention to conviction, in jurisdictions with distinct populations and policies, addressing a common concern in the literature,” says Santiago Rodriguez.
“I think in general people are concerned with fairness in the criminal justice system,” Sullivan adds. “When individuals go through the criminal justice process, they shouldn’t face differential treatment. However, examples of differential treatment have spurred recent political and social backlash, for example the Black Lives Matter movement. Unfortunately, there is limited research that provides evidence for how and when individuals face this sort of differential treatment in the system and so our project hopes to shed light on those disparities.”
Disparities were not only analyzed by race and ethnicity but gender. For instance, Black and Latina women in Harris County are less likely to be convicted than white men but more likely to spend time in pre-trial detention than white men, according to the data.
“This pattern reflects different biases at different stages of the system, which may seem contradictory at first,” Santiago Rodriguez says. “Judges may perceive Black and Latina women as higher flight risks, leading to higher pretrial detention rates, but their cases may be weaker, resulting in lower conviction rates. The gendered nature of racial and ethnic disparities is particularly interesting, perhaps not entirely surprising, but still significant. Black and Latina women often faced less severe outcomes than white men, challenging the assumption that all racial and ethnic minorities experience the same level of disadvantage in the system.”
“Our results reflect common biases in the U.S., with minority men facing more punitive outcomes and women, even minority women, encountering more lenient outcomes (though it does vary),” adds Sullivan. “However, in Multnomah County, we document that women, in general, were more likely to face pretrial detention, while at the same time they are also more likely to be released on their own recognizance and on average faced fewer days detained. This may reflect unobserved differences in how these demographics are treated within the system that impact the adjudication process and is an important factor in generating disparities.”
“Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Local Criminal Justice Systems” offers three policy recommendations:
- Encourage the Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data Across Criminal Justice Agencies. Currently, criminal justice agencies rely on different methods to collect and record race and ethnicity information. We encourage agencies to develop a system-wide standard for the categorization of race and ethnicity data. This is especially important in light of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) new standards on collecting race/ethnicity data across federal agencies. The collection of self-identification and “street race” data would provide informative data on how these measures are similarly or differently associated with disparities in system outcomes.
- Encourage the Examination of Outcomes by Race and Gender. The interaction of race, ethnicity, and gender offers valuable insight into the treatment of different subgroups. Investigating system outcomes along race and gender can direct attention to where disparities exist and where to direct targeted interventions for particular subgroups.
- Conduct Analyses of Front-end Outcomes as Drivers of Disparities. Analyses of front-end system outcomes such as pretrial detention and length of detention can significantly inform what we know about racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system. A review of policies and practices that guide these initial justice system outcomes, and how they impact particular subgroups, will significantly advance research and practice.
“Our recommendations highlight the need for reforms that focus on the group most affected by disparities, rather than relying on one-size-fits-all solutions,” Santiago Rodriguez says. “Tackling front-end disparities, such as pretrial detention, can reduce unnecessary incarceration, lower costs, and prevent long-term harm like job loss and family instability. In the long run, these changes would strengthen public trust in the justice system, reduce systemic inequalities, and enhance public safety by ensuring that legal decisions are based on evidence rather than bias.”
Meanwhile, the UC Irvine research team’s work continues.
“Our team will continue to engage with the local justice systems to provide informative data on the processing and outcomes of individuals,” Professor Rodriguez says. “I am deeply committed to ensuring this research is not removed from the justice actors who oversee the handling of cases nor the people who are directly impacted by these processes. I am grateful that our research team is developing academic papers based on this work, as well as seeking future funding to examine the impact of criminal justice reform at the local level.”
— Matt Coker