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...
Police and Political Violence in the 1960s and 1970s: Germany and Italy in a Comparative Perspective
Notwithstanding the significant differences between the German and Italian police models (federal and civil vs. centralised and militarised), in both countries the confrontation with the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s had a profound impact on police conceptions and public order strategies. Police forces in some German federal states (West Berlin) followed a hard line until the late 1960s, while in others (Munich, Hamburg) reforms to the Weimar-centred police intervention tactics took place beginning in the early to mid-1960s. In Italy, traditional police conceptions and strategies remained largely unchanged and re-emerged in 1968. Here, a movement from within the police led to the demilitarisation and unionisation of the state police in 1981. In both countries, fighting left-wing terrorism in the 1970s stimulated technical modernisation and enhanced the centralisation of the police. In critical response to police tactics, in the late 1970s Germany police matters were increasingly perceived as a concern not only of the state but of civil society—even if policing remained a highly contested terrain. In Italy, such matters largely remained state concerns in which only politicians and internal security specialists were entitled to intervene.