The general purpose of this research is to determine if there are case-level, individual, and/or social factors that have a differential impact on the federal criminal sentencing of
Hispanic non-citizen offenders, compared to white citizens. Drawing on focal concerns and minority threat theories, hierarchical linear and generalized linear models are estimated to
assess case, defendant, and district level effects on the federal sentencing outcomes for a large sample of defendants (N=63,753) convicted in 2008. The contextual factors of interest
include the immigration caseload of the district, minority population sizes, and public attitudes on specific immigration policies. The results indicate that the average likelihood of
incarceration and sentence length significantly varies across these court locations. While case and defendant-level characteristics have strong direct impacts on these outcomes, the
findings also indicate that district characteristics also exert significant direct and indirect effects. These effects were strongest in the sentence length models. Notably, the minority
compositions for the foreign-born and Hispanic populations have different effects on the average sentence lengths across districts. Anti-immigration attitudes were also positively related
to sentence length. Overall, this work provides a more nuanced explanation of the federal sentencing disparities that exist for Hispanic non-citizens, which merit greater attention. It
also highlights the need for current sentencing theory and public policy to be further developed in order to adequately address the complex and changing impacts on punishment decisions
across place. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / November 2, 2015. / Federal Sentencing, Immigration, Minority Threat, Multilevel Analysis, Public Opinion, Race and Ethnicity / Includes bibliographical references. / Brian Stults, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathryn Tillman, University Representative; Daniel Mears, Committee Member; Eric Stewart, Committee
Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_291330 |
| Contributors | Roberts, Kelly K. (Kelly Kathleen) (authoraut), Stults, Brian J. (professor directing dissertation), Tillman, Kathryn H. (university representative), Mears, Daniel P., 1966- (committee member), Stewart, Eric Allen (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting college), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (113 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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