HIDDEN DISPARITIES IN CASE PROCESSING - NEW-YORK-STATE, 1985-1986

This analysis examined whether Black and Hispanic defendants were sentenced to incarceration more often than white defendants following arrest for misdemeanor or felony crimes. Disparity is defined as a significant difference in how often minorities and whites were incarcerated that is not attributable to differences in arrest charges, prior criminal records, and county of processing. The research shows that: minorities were incarcerated more often than comparably situated whites; disparity varied by county; disparity could not be estimated from statewide totals; disparity could not be estimated by discriminant function analysis; removing disparity in postarrest case processing would do little to reduce the concentration of minorities in jails and prisons.