Are “Stand Your Ground” laws racist and sexist? A statistical analysis of cases in Florida, 2005-2013
Are “Stand Your Ground” laws racist and sexist? A statistical analysis of cases in Florida, 2005-2013
Objective: I test for racial and gender bias in the enforcement of “stand your ground" (SYG)laws,controlling for potential confounders often invoked to reject claims of racism and sexism.
Method: Regressions, simulations, and genetic matching are conducted using case-level data from 237 incidents in the US state of Florida between 2005 and 2013.
Results: Controlling for potential confounders, the probability of conviction for a white defendant against a white victim is an estimated 90% with much error; for a black defendant it is nearly 100% with little error. For a male defendant in a domestic case, the probability is 40% whereas for a female defendant it is 80%.
Conclusions: Enforcement of SYG laws appears biased against people of color in general and women specifically in the home. Policy implications are especially stark because these findings contradict recent research conducted for the US Senate.
439-452
Murphy, Justin
cdf28232-2d67-4188-98cf-d81896682bf0
March 2018
Murphy, Justin
cdf28232-2d67-4188-98cf-d81896682bf0
Murphy, Justin
(2018)
Are “Stand Your Ground” laws racist and sexist? A statistical analysis of cases in Florida, 2005-2013.
Social Science Quarterly, 99 (1), .
(doi:10.1111/ssqu.12402).
Abstract
Objective: I test for racial and gender bias in the enforcement of “stand your ground" (SYG)laws,controlling for potential confounders often invoked to reject claims of racism and sexism.
Method: Regressions, simulations, and genetic matching are conducted using case-level data from 237 incidents in the US state of Florida between 2005 and 2013.
Results: Controlling for potential confounders, the probability of conviction for a white defendant against a white victim is an estimated 90% with much error; for a black defendant it is nearly 100% with little error. For a male defendant in a domestic case, the probability is 40% whereas for a female defendant it is 80%.
Conclusions: Enforcement of SYG laws appears biased against people of color in general and women specifically in the home. Policy implications are especially stark because these findings contradict recent research conducted for the US Senate.
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stand_your_ground_article.pdf
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Accepted/In Press date: 7 March 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 March 2017
Published date: March 2018
Organisations:
Social Sciences
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Local EPrints ID: 396315
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/396315
ISSN: 0038-4941
PURE UUID: 7ae52140-a840-4e1c-9a86-0da33eb2871b
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Date deposited: 15 Jun 2016 10:38
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:38
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Justin Murphy
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