Do Black Prosecutors Matter? The Effect of Descriptive Representation in the American Criminal Justice System Open Access
Jackson, Chelsea (Spring 2018)
Published
Abstract
In the era of Mass Incarceration, activists, politicians, and scholars alike have criticized the U.S. criminal justice system for incarcerating too many Americans and perpetuating racial and class disparities. One more recent solution posited is an increase in minority representation among local prosecutors. Despite their virtually unrestricted discretion and interdependent role in the criminal justice system writ large, district attorneys are overwhelmingly white. This study uses multivariate regression and two-sample t-tests to evaluate the effect of Black district attorneys on incarceration rates and racial disparities. I find that Black prosecutors are less punitive than their white counterparts are, and have narrower racial disparities.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter Title
Page Numbers
List of Tables and Figures
x
Introduction
1 - 7
1. The American Prosecutor as an Institution and Political Actor
8 -18
2. Why Would Black Prosecutors matter?
19 - 48
3. Do Black Prosecutors Affect Punitiveness and Racial Disparities?
49 - 64
4. How Do Black Prosecutors Compare to Non-black Prosecutors?
65 – 74
Conclusion
75 - 78
Appendix
79 - 84
Bibliography
84 - 98
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