Opening Pandora's Box: How Does Defendant Race Influence Plea Bargaining?

Preliminary findings indicated that Black defendants were less likely to receive reduced charge offers, and both Black and Latino defendants were more likely to receive custodial sentence offers; however, these disparities were largely explained by legal factors, evidence, arrest circumstances, and court-actor characteristics, but Black defendants were still more likely to receive custodial sentence offers after including these controls. No differences were found between White and Asian defendants. Implications for research and prosecutorial practices are discussed.