Sentencing and diversity: how do ethnicity and gender impact on the requirements and outcomes of sentences served in the community?

Off

Grant details

ESRC £50,089

Project start and end dates

February 2023 to February 2024 - this is the funded period the work is still ongoing.

Research team members

PI: Dr Angela Sorsby

Background and aims of the project

This project aims to explore the following research questions: Are there differences between ethnic groups and men and women in the number and type of requirements that make up community orders and suspended sentence orders, after controlling for other factors, such as age and severity of offence? Are some community order requirements more effective in terms of successful completion and preventing reconviction? Does the effectiveness of community order requirements vary by ethnicity and is this the same for men and women? Does unsuccessful completion due to failure to comply with the requirements of an order increase the likelihood of a custodial sentence for a subsequent offence? Does the likelihood of a custodial sentence for a subsequent offence after breaching the requirements of an order vary by ethnicity, and is this the same for men and women?

Methods

The de-identified datasets made available via the Ministry of Justice Data First programme give access to case-level administrative data. They include information on aspects such as sentence requirements, age, type of offence, whether there are subsequent convictions, and more.

The project uses the Data First probation and criminal justice linked dataset to examine the relative effectiveness of different requirements of community-based orders. The orders will be assessed in terms of successful completion and the likelihood of future offending in relation to ethnicity and gender, while controlling for other variables such as age and offence.

Regression analysis will be used to:

  • Examine whether there are differences between ethnic groups and men and women in the number and type of requirements that make up community-based orders (rehabilitation, unpaid work, curfew and accredited programmes)
  • Investigate whether some requirements are more effective in terms of successful completion and preventing reconviction identify whether the effectiveness of each requirement in terms of successful completion and preventing reconviction varies by ethnicity and gender
  • Investigate whether failing to comply with requirements increases the likelihood of a custodial sentence for a subsequent offence and the relationship between this, ethnicity and gender.