Modeling the Politics of Punishment: A Contextual Analysis of Racial Disparity in Drug Sentencing

• Author: S.E. Costanza,Ronald Helms
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016810373114
• Published date: 01 December 2010
• Date: 01 December 2010
• Subject Matter: Articles

Modeling the Politics of

Punishment: A Contextual

Analysis of Racial Disparity in

Drug Sentencing

Ronald Helms

1

, and S. E. Costanza

2

Abstract

This study uses Tobit to assess contextual punishment determinants for a large sample of felony drug

cases that reached final disposition in 1990. After statistically holding constant ascribed and legal

variables, the authors find that punishments for African American defendants in drug-related cases

varied by social and political context. African American defendants adjudicated in jurisdictions char-

acterized by a large Black population received reduced punishments; but in jurisdictions that were

characterized by strong law-and-order political support, Black defendants received longer sentences.

After introducing these interactions, Blacksfaced on average reduced penaltiesfor drug crimes. Blacks

were the recipients of adjusted sentencing but not in theuniformly harsh direction proposed by much

of the sentencingresearch. In sum, the resultsof this research add tothe growing literature document-

ing the political foundations of punishment patterns in the U.S. criminal courts.

Keywords

drugs, race, courts, punishment, politics

Introduction

During the 1980s, drug distribution and use became the centerpiece in the war on crime (Steen &

Bandy, 2007). Since then, there has been a shift from indeterminate to mandatory minimum senten-

cing practices. In 1984, the federal government passed the Uniform Sentencing Act that created

mandatory federal statutes for drug trafficking offenses that could not be overruled from the bench

(Howell, 2004). Similar legislation across many states represented a shift to fixed and determinate

punishments

1

for drug offenders. In the aftermath of these exhaustive reforms, research has yet to

fully address basic questions about the resulting punishment patterns for drug offenders sentenced

after these reforms took effect. This article attempts to fill that particular gap in the literature with an

analysis of drug sentencing cases decided in a wide range of state court jurisdictions.

1

Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

2

Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ronald Helms, Department of Sociology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA

Email: Ronald.Helms@wwu.edu

Criminal Justice Review

35(4) 472-491

ª2010 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016810373114

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472

Although the ideal framework for punishment emphasizes sentencing equity, recent research has

indicated that punishment decisions remain responsive to local environmental contexts (Helms,

2009; Helms & Jacobs, 2002). Previous punishment studies support claims that political jurisdiction

and race influence a wide range of corrections outcomes (Helms, 2009; Helms & Jacobs, 2002;

Jacobs & Helms, 1996, 1999, 2001; Stucky, Heimer, & Lang, 2007).

Despite legislative efforts that sought to equalize punishments, research has continued to accrue

evidence pointing to extra-legal punishment sources (Chappell & Maggard, 2007; Chiricos, Welch,

& Gertz, 2004; Pasko, 2002; Ulmer, Kurlychek, & Kramer, 2007). Less attention has been paid to

sentencing for drug offenders, however, despite the intense public policy focus on drug crimes that

dominated the political discourse of the late 20th century. The research presented here assesses

whether contextual variables help to predict punishment patterns for a large sample of drug offense

cases that reached final disposition in 1990, a historical moment when the courts focused intensively

on these types of cases. This research emphasizes the sentencing influences of key contextual indi-

cators while statistically holding constant case-level legal variables and defendant personal

attributes.

In addition, this article examines several key cross-level interactions between defendant race and

indicators of community racial composition and law-and-order politics. An extensive body of sen-

tencing literature has been preoccupied with racial equity (for reviews see Chiricos & Crawford,

1995; Crow, 2008; Hardy, 1983; Kleck, 1981, 1985; Zatz, 1987). These accumulated research

efforts, however, focused primarily on general sentencing effects without focusing directly on drug

cases. Several studies document that racial sentencing has been shaped by political and social con-

text (Harrington & Spohn, 2007; Helms, 2009; Helms & Jacobs, 2002; Holloran & Spohn, 2004) but

do not attempt to isolate influences on drug cases directly.

This study develops insights into local court decision making through an examination of links

between local politics, racial demographics, and drug sentencing patterns. Focusing on the politics

of punishment, this article offers a model of how court decision patterns, during the apex of the war

on drugs, adapted to local contextual environments, thereby mediating the effects of the criminal law

and dispensing localized justice.

Previous Literature on Political and Contextual Sentencing Effects

During the 1980s, critics of indeterminate sentencing promoted a ‘‘truth-in-sentencing’’model, in

which sentencing minimums would be set by legislative powers.

2

Following this model, neither

judges nor parole boards could make a premature decision as to when an offender would be released

from prison. Critics found much to fault in indeterminate sentencing ranging from the notion that

prisoners could ‘‘beat the system’’ by conning the parole board to a belief that judges’ sentencing

practices regarding parole consideration were racially motivated (Griset, 1994, 1996). Systematic

changes to respective uniform sentencing codes were expected to result in equalization of sentences

but an accumulation of recent literature denotes that determinate sentencing reforms have been less

than fully successful in eliminating disparity (Demuth & Steffensmeier, 2004; Hawkins, 2005;

Helms & Jacobs, 2002; Weidner, Frase, & Schultz, 2005). The accumulated research converges

on the insight that latent political and racial influences continued to affect sentencing decisions after

enactment of substantial sentencing reforms.

Previous Literature: Political Sentencing Effects

Blalock’s seminal work in Black–White relations (Blalock, 1967) stressed a conflict model of

race relations that suggested that Whites, as an aggregate, perceive African Americans as a threat

over competition for social resources. Perhaps, in part because Blalock’s insights influenced so

Helms and Costanza 473

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