A statewide panel of criminal justice experts that is expected to come up with recommendations on possible new sentencing guidelines for the 2009 Nevada Legislature to consider has plenty of statistical research to digest. Perhaps none will be more important or controversial than the preliminary findings of a university study released Tuesday for consideration by the Legislature’s Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice.
As reported Wednesday in the Las Vegas Sun by Cy Ryan and Jeff German, the study found that blacks get more prison time than whites for crimes such as drug trafficking, grand larceny and drunken driving. It was also found that men receive stiffer sentences than women.
These findings, if they hold up through more detailed statistical research yet to come, would be very troubling and would merit high priority among the myriad issues legislators are expected to tackle next year.
The Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, which conducted the study as a subcontractor to a commission consultant, is scheduled to report back to the commission on a monthly basis with more detailed findings as they become available.
In addition to further analysis of sentencing by race and gender, specific attention ought to be paid to Hispanics, who were included with the non-Hispanic whites in the preliminary study. Future analysis also should take into account the correlation between length of sentences and criminal history.
It would also be worthy to consider the effect an offender’s economic status and educational background have on sentencing, as well as whether a transient criminal is treated differently from one who owns his own home.
A more detailed demographic analysis would give the commission a clearer picture of the sentences handed out to convicted felons. That, in turn, would help bolster the recommendations the commission makes to the Legislature. Whatever the final outcome of the research, it is our hope that the findings will result in equitable sentencing guidelines so that the scales of justice are level.
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