Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences
利用从逮捕到判刑的联邦案件数据，发现初始案件和被告特征可解释大部分种族判决差异，但黑人仍比同类白人刑期长近10%，主要源于检察官的初始指控决定。
Using rich data linking federal cases from arrest through to sentencing, we find that initial case and defendant characteristics, including arrest offense and criminal history, can explain most of the large raw racial disparity in federal sentences, but significant gaps remain. Across the distribution, blacks receive sentences that are almost 10 percent longer than those of comparable whites arrested for the same crimes. Most of this disparity can be explained by prosecutors' initial charging decisions, particularly the filing of charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences. Ceteris paribus, the odds of black arrestees facing such a charge are 1.75 times higher than those of white arrestees.