DISPARITY IN SENTENCING NOT NECESSARILY RACIST

Eric Holder is being disingenuous when he cites a study that shows black men are given 20 percent longer sentences than white men convicted of similar crimes

In his commencement address at Morgan State University, Eric Holder, the nation’s first black Attorney General, told graduates at the predominantly black school that racism, while subtle, still persists throughout the U.S.

Holder cited last year’s U.S. Sentencing Commission report which found that black men receive criminal sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer than white men convicted of similar crimes.

OK, I will concede that the disparity in some of those sentences could be racially motivated. But I believe that racial motivation plays a role in only a very small number of cases. What Mr. Holder conveniently omitted were reasons other than race in the disparity of those sentences.

In most jurisdictions, once a defendant has been convicted of a crime, the court will order a probation agency to conduct a presentence investigation. That investigation report usually calls for a sentencing recommendation. That recommendation will be based on the nature of the crime, the defendant’s prior criminal history, his attitude, his gang affiliation if any, his threat to public safety, etc.

The disparity in sentencing is more likely to occur because in many cases, a black defendant will have a longer history of prior crimes than a white defendant convicted of a similar crime. A black defendant may also receive a longer sentence if he is affiliated with a street gang than a white defendant who does not belong to a gang, thus making the white defendant less of a threat to public safety.

Eric Holder is not stupid. He, as many others of his ilk, likes to play the race card. In this case Holder knows very well that the disparity in sentencing is not necessarily racist.

It’s the same story with the oft-made claim that racism is to blame for the disproportionate number of blacks in prison. Holder has harped on this several times during his tenure as attorney general. Just as with the disparity in sentencing, Mr. Holder conveniently omitted the fact that a disproportionate number of blacks are in prison because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes, not because they are victims of a racist criminal justice system.

One only needs to look at the City of New York to illustrate why blacks make up a disproportionate number of prison inmates. In New York from January to June 2008, 83 percent of all gun assailants were black, according to witnesses and victims, though blacks were only 24 percent of the population. Blacks and Hispanics together accounted for 98 percent of all gun assailants. Forty-nine of every 50 muggings and murders were the work of black or Hispanic criminals. During that six-month period, blacks and Hispanics committed 96 percent of all crimes in the city.

Mr. Holder would have better served the graduates of Morgan State University if he had chosen not to play a worn out race card.