Gary Kleck

Bio: Gary Kleck is an academic researcher from Florida State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poison control & Gun control. The author has an hindex of 34, co-authored 124 publications receiving 4056 citations. Previous affiliations of Gary Kleck include Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice & American Society of Criminology.

Racial Discrimination in Criminal Sentencing: A Critical Evaluation of the Evidence with Additional Evidence on the Death Penalty.

Abstract: Reevaluation of published research on racial bias in criminal sentencing and of data on execution rates by race from 1930 to 1967 and on death-sentencing rates from 1967 to 1978 indicates that, except in the South, black homicide offenders have been less likely than whites to receive a death sentence or be executed. For the 11% of executions imposed for rape, discrimination against black defendants who had raped white victims was substantial, but only in the South. Evidence for noncapital sentencing also largely contradicts a hypothesis of overt discrimination against black defendants. Although black offender--white victim crimes are generally punished more severely than crimes involving other racial combinations, this appears to be due to legally relevant factors related to such offenses. Crimes with black victims, however, are less likely than those with white victims to result in imposition of the death penalty. The devalued status of black crime victims is one of several hypothetical explanations of the more lenient sentencing of black defendants. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1981. Copyright © 1981 by the American Sociological Association) VioLit keywords: Racial Differences Racial Factors Racial Discrimination Correctional Decision Making Sentencing Criminal Justice System Capital Punishment Death Penalty Black-White Comparison Caucasian Adult Caucasian Offender Caucasian Violence African American Adult African American Offender African American Violence 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Race, racial threat, and sentencing of habitual offenders*

Abstract: As legislatures proliferate novel "enhancements" to criminal sentencing, such as "three-strikes" and related provisions, and as criminologists debate their effects, the role of existing enhancements, such as habitual offender statutes, has received little empirical attention. This article explores the effect of race in the decision to prosecute and sentence eligible defendants as "habitual" offenders. During FY 1992-93, 9,690 males admitted to prison in Florida were statutorily eligible (two prior felony convictions or one prior violent felony conviction) for sentencing as "habitual" offenders. Approximately 20% received that disposition. They will serve at least 75% of their enhanced sentence as compared with the state average of about 40%. Logistic regression, controlling for prior record, crime seriousness, and other relevant factors, shows a significant and substantial race effect. The disadvantage of black defendants is particularly strong for drug offenses and for property crimes that have relatively high victimization rates for whites (larceny, burglary). Race is less consequential for violent and weapons-related crimes. Race effects are more often significant in sentencing contexts that are low in terms of percent black, racial income inequality, drug arrest rates, and violent crime rates. The relevance of these findings for a "racial threat" interpretation of sentencing outcomes is discussed.

The impact of gun control and gun ownership levels on violence rates

Abstract: What effects do gun control restrictions and gun prevalence have on rates of violence and crime? Data were gathered for all 170 U.S. cities with a 1980 population of at least 100,000. The cities were coded for the presence of 19 major categories of firearms restriction, including both state- and city-level restrictions. Multiple indirect indicators of gun prevalence levels were measured and models of city violence rates were estimated using two-stage least-squares methods. The models covered all major categories of intentional violence and crime which frequently involve guns: homicide, suicide, fatal gun accidents, robbery, and aggravated assaults, as well as rape. Findings indicate that (1) gun prevalence levels generally have no net positive effect on total violence rates, (2) homicide, gun assault, and rape rates increase gun prevalence, (3) gun control restrictions have no net effect on gun prevalence levels, and (4) most gun control restrictions generally have no net effect on violence rates. There were, however, some possible exceptions to this last conclusion—of 108 assessments of effects of different gun laws on different types of violence, 7 indicated good support, and another 11 partial support, for the hypothesis of gun control efficacy.

Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes.

Abstract: Social dominance orientation (SDO), one's degree of preference for inequality among social groups, is introduced. On the basis of social dominance theory, it is shown that (a) men are more social dominance-oriented than women, (b) high-SDO people seek hierarchy-enhancing professional roles and low-SDO people seek hierarchy-attenuating roles, (c) SDO was related to beliefs in a lag number of social and political ideologies that support group-based hierarchy (e.g., meritocracy and racism) and to support for policies that have implications for intergroup relations (e.g., war, civil rights, and social programs), including new policies. SDO was distinguished from interpersonal dominance, conservatism, and authoritarianism

Evolution and Rationality Some Recent Game-Theoretic Results. Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects

Abstract: We investigate conditions sufficient for identification of average treatment effects using instrumental variables. First we show that the existence of valid instruments is not sufficient to identify any meaningful average treatment effect. We then establish that the combination of an instrument and a condition on the relation between the instrument and the participation status is sufficient for identification of a local average treatment effect for those who can be induced to change their participation status by changing the value of the instrument. Finally we derive the probability limit of the standard IV estimator under these conditions. It is seen to be a weighted average of local average treatment effects.

Actual Causes of Death in the United States

Abstract: To the Editor. —The article entitled "Actual Causes of Death in the United States"1was misleading in a number of ways. First, the title should have been something like "Nongenetic Causes of Death" or "Potentially Preventable Nongenetic Causes of Premature Death," or adjustments should have been made so that ordinary causes of death not credited to one of Drs McGinnis and Foege's major external factors were kept in. Otherwise, listing nine or 10 leading "actual causes" misleadingly suggests that heart disease and cancers are not leading causes of death. In fact, subtract those cancers and heart diseases that McGinnis and Foege attribute to external causes, lifestyles, and the like, and heart disease remains comfortably in third place as a cause of death, and cancers not attributable to outside influences kill more than toxic agents do. Second, either some deaths are counted twice or virtually no firearm-related deaths are attributed

Experimental And Quasi Experimental Designs For Research

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The interaction of race, gender, and age in criminal sentencing: The punishment cost of being young, black, and male

Abstract: Prior theory and research on sentencing oversimplify the role of race, gender and age in judicial decision making. In this article we present a “focal concerns” theory of judicial decision making to frame hypotheses regarding the effects on sentencing of these social statuses, both singly and in combination. Analyzing statewide sentencing outcomes in Pennsylvania for 1989–1992, we find that, net of controls: (1) young black males are sentenced more harshly than any other group, (2) race is most influential in the sentencing of younger rather than older males, (3) the influence of offender's age on sentencing is greater among males than females, and (4) the main effects of race, gender, and age are more modest compared to the very large differences in sentencing outcomes across certain age-race-gender combinations. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering the joint effects of race, gender, and age on sentencing, and of using interactive rather than additive models.