Latinos in the war on drugs: The role of offender citizenship status and family ties on downward departures

ABSTRACT

The present study analyzes Latino drug offenders sentenced in U.S. federal courts from 2006–2014 in order to assess whether any family ties effects were contingent on offenders’ citizenship status. The findings indicate that citizenship status conditions the influence of family ties on the decision to grant downward departures, but not the decision on the magnitude of the discount granted. The findings indicate the importance of conducting intra-ethnic examinations of sentencing outcomes for Latinos rather than assuming parity in treatment and solely comparing them to other groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship status
• drug offenses
• family ties
• Latinos
• sentencing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melissa A. Logue

Melissa A. Logue works in the Department of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA.