Opening Pandora’s Box: How Does Defendant Race Influence Plea Bargaining?

This study examines racial disparities in the plea-bargaining phase of the criminal justice process. Specifically, the study explores the impact of race and ethnicity on charge and sentence offers in misdemeanor marijuana cases. The data was collected from the New York County District Attorney’s Office’s case-management system. The researchers hypothesized that Black and Latino defendants would be less likely to recieve reduced charge offers and more likely to receive custodial sentence offers when compared to their white counterparts. The study revealed that there were racial disparities across racial groups, even when accounting for legally relevant factors that could have influenced outcomes. Overall, the study found that Black and Latino defendants were more likely to receive charge bargains that included pleas to the current charge rather than a reduced charge. In addition, Blacks and Latinos were more likely to be given plea offers that included jail time. The article concludes with a call for more studies on racial disparities in plea bargaining because more insight will contribute to the achievement of greater racial equality in the criminal justice system.

“[P]rior research and theorizing on implicit bias and racial disparity suggest that minority defendants may be at a disadvantage when it comes to prosecutorial decision-making in criminal cases. Although relatively few studies examine charge reductions or sentence offers, disparity is likely to be particularly pronounced in the plea negotiation process, which often involves broad discretion and limited oversight.” p. 7