Drug Courts Webinar Series: Racial Disparities in Criminal Sentencing and Drug Court Eligibility

This webinar examines whether racial disparities in criminal justice processing ultimately restrict Black defendants' access to drug courts through commonly used exclusionary criteria. Using approximately 350,000 misdemeanor and felony case data from Franklin County, Ohio, spanning 2006-2020, the presenters examine racial disparities across multiple case processing decision points and test whether Black defendants are more likely to be convicted of offenses commonly used as drug court exclusion criteria. The presenters find evidence that disparities in charging and convictions place Black defendants at a greater likelihood of having criminal records that may later become the basis for drug court exclusion.

Presenters:
Alex Fraga, Affiliated Senior Researcher, Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
Rebecca Xie, Doctoral Candidate, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University

Moderator:
Doug Berman, Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law; Executive Director, Drug Enforcement and Policy Center

The Drug Court Webinar Series is hosted by The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and The Ohio State University John Glenn College of Public Affairs, and Cornell University Brooks School of Public Policy Department of Sociology.

This project was supported by Award No.15PNIJ-21-GG-04708-NIJB, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. 

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.