Mandatory Minimum Reforms, Sentencing, And Racial-ethnic Disparities

Authors

Terry Ann Craigie, Smith CollegeFollow
Mariyana Zapryanova, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2021

Publication Title

B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, numerous states and the federal government enacted mandatory minimum reforms, especially for drug offenses. Yet little is known about how effective these reforms have been at the state-level in lowering drug sentences. Using quasi-experimental methods and administrative data, this study evaluates the impact of state-level mandatory minimum reforms on drug sentences and their concomitant racial-ethnic disparities. We find that state-level mandatory minimum reforms do not lower drug sentences in general or change racial-ethnic disparities statistically significantly. These findings suggest that the profound racial-ethnic bias sparked by state-level mandatory minimums are not fully ameliorated by subsequent state-level reforms.

Keywords

mandatory minimum laws, racial-ethnic disparities, sentencing

Volume

21

Issue

4

First Page

1289

Last Page

1318

DOI

10.1515/bejeap-2020-0215

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.

Comments

Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.

Recommended Citation

Craigie, Terry Ann and Zapryanova, Mariyana, "Mandatory Minimum Reforms, Sentencing, And Racial-ethnic Disparities" (2021). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/67