Victim-Based Effects on Racially Disparate Sentencing in Ohio
Scholars have argued that African-American men accused of violently victimizing whites receive especially harsh treatment in court. This thesis was tested with samples of felony defendants processed in Ohio courts before and after the implementation of sentencing guidelines. During the preguideline period only, African-American men accused of victimizing whites were less likely than other defendants to plead guilty in exchange for reduced charges and/or sentences, and African-American men incarcerated for violent crimes against whites received longer sentences than other incarcerated offenders. During the postguideline period only, by contrast, the odds of pleading guilty in exchange for reduced charges were actually higher for African-American men accused of victimizing whites. African-American male prison terms significantly declined relative to incarcerated whites from the preguideline to the postguideline period. The interaction effect of defendant-victim race was significant during the preguideline period, not significant in the postguideline period, and significantly changed over time.
A comparison of death-sentenced and incarcerated murderers in pre-Furman texas
Research on the relationship between racial discrimination and capital sentencing for murderers in the decades before 1972 was sparse and often methodologically weak. Further, the available body of research revealed mixed findings. In spite of the data, many scholars and lawyers “felt” that discrimination was prevalent and severely prejudiced non-Anglo-American defendants in capital proceedings, particularly in the southern states. This paper specifically examines the sentencing patterns in murder cases in Texas from 1942 to 1971. Historical data are analyzed on two groups of offenders: those sentenced to death and those given a prison term. Legal and extralegal variables that may have influenced sentencing decisions are considered. Through the use of a multivariate analysis, we found that in the three decades preceding the Furman decision in Texas the victim's race was the primary extralegal variable affecting sentencing decisions; the defendant's race was not the primary factor. The paper concludes that...
Livestock Aspects of Feed Grain Policy
It is a signal event that our topic should be included on this program. In recent years, the livestock and poultry economy has scarcely been considered in the making of price and income policy for feed grains. It has been disregarded by pragmatic policy makers. It has been almost equally bypassed by theoretical economists, who usually kibitz freely. Policy for support and target prices for corn, grain sorghums, and other feed grains has been made with an eye almost exclusively fixed on the producers of those crops. The target price has been set relatively high in order to protect crop farmers' income. The latest (and current) loan rate policy has been to hold the rate low. Although a low rate facilitates moving grain into livestock and poultry consumption when crops are abundant, it does nothing to provide buffer stocks for years when crops are short. In addition, a couple of years ago it became administrative policy to dispose of the stocks inherited from an earlier period, even subsidizing their sale abroad. But the foremost example of one-sidedness is the attitude toward release prices. In all the rhetoric heard recently about the peril of holding corn or sorghums in reserve, the scold has been that release prices would not be set high enough. What group can the spokesmen have had in mind? Feed producers, of course! Not feed consumers, that is, livestock and poultry men. It has been a one-sided consideration of a two-sided issue. If all groups are to have equal voice in policy making, how can livestock and poultry interests be so ostracized? The one-sidedness has more impact now that so much livestock and poultry production has become detached from feed supply on individual farms. The livestock-poultry economy is therefore more sensitive to the availability and price of feed. It is in fact a contradiction that historically, livestock and poultry got more attention when they were still closely connected with feed production on the farm. In the early years of farm programs, the "ever-normal granary" was consciously designed to level out the supply and price of feed for livestock and poultry. Now that livestock and poultry have become more commercial and more vulnerable to a volatile feed situation, feed price stabilization has been progressively removed from the councils of farm policy. And the ultimate contradiction is that the alleged price-depressing perils of a feed reserve have been proclaimed in disregard of the fact that the main defense of feed grain producers' incomes is the target price-direct payment mechanism, not support prices. If grains on reserve should cause market prices to be reduced below target level, producers would get bigger direct payments, that is, producers with a base on their farm are protected in that way. Admittedly, production outside such a base would not be eligible for payment.