Florida judges have the discretion to withhold adjudication for felony offenders sentenced to probation. This sentencing option allows offenders to retain all rights normally lost upon felony conviction within the state of Florida, including the right to vote and carry fire arms. Those who receive adjudication withheld can also legally assert that they are not convicted felons. In short, they suffer none of the associated "civil" or social penalties that generally accompany criminal conviction. This research investigates the direct impact of individual characteristics such as race, ethnicity and gender on the withholding of adjudication for a sample of probationers (N=120,771) convicted in Florida courts between 1999 and 2002. The study also examines the situational influence of crime type and the cross level impact of socially threatening conditions such as black and Hispanic unemployment, racial composition and concentrated disadvantage on the effect of individual traits using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling. The results indicate that blacks and Hispanics have substantially lower chances than white offenders, with similar personal and legal attributes, to receive adjudication withheld. The influence of race and ethnicity on adjudication withheld is more prominent for drug offenders and for blacks in areas of high black unemployment and for both blacks and Hispanics in places with elevated levels of disadvantage. Gender also significantly impacts adjudication withheld with female offenders significantly more likely to receive this beneficial sentencing decision when compared to male offenders. Additionally, women convicted of atypical crimes such as murder and auto theft do not enjoy the sentencing advantage that other female offenders have over males. Overall, the chance of adjudication withheld for female offenders is substantially increased in areas with stronger female earnings. The race, ethnicity and gender findings are discussed within the social threat and social control theoretical framework. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2006. / March 17, 2006. / Threat, Gender, Ethnicity, Race, Social Control / Includes bibliographical references. / Theodore Chiricos, Professor Directing Dissertation; Richard Tate, Outside Committee Member; William Bales, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_181837 |
| Contributors | Bontrager, Stephanie (authoraut), Chiricos, Theodore (professor directing dissertation), Tate, Richard (outside committee member), Bales, William (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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