1985/01/01 by Michael L. Radelet, Glenn L. Pierce · 152 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Criminology #Discretion #Gender studies #Homicide #Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse #Injury prevention #Law #Medical emergency #Medicine #Poison control #Political science #Psychology #Race (biology) #Sociology
paper · doi:10.2307/3053422
published in Law & Society Review 19(4), 587-621 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 1985/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
This paper examines the cases of 1017 homicide defendants in Florida. Two main data sources are used: the police department's classification of the case, as found in the FBI's Supplemental Homicide Reports, and the prosecutor's classification, as determined by court records. Each data set characterizes the homicide as involving felonious circumstances, possible felonious circumstances, or nonfelonious circumstances. Attention is focused on cases that differ in their police and prosecutorial classifications. Results indicate that differences in these classifications are related to defendant's and victim's race, with blacks accused of killing whites the most likely to be “upgraded” and the least likely to be “downgraded.” The process of upgrading is then shown to significantly increase the likelihood of the imposition of a death sentence in cases with white victims where no plea bargain is offered.