TY - JOUR PY - 1935// TI - Race Prejudice in the Administration of Justice JO - American journal of sociology A1 - Sellin, T. SP - 212 EP - 217 VL - 41 IS - 2 N2 - It would be denying to the judge the ordinary attributes of human nature to assume that he could render justice free from all preconceptions. The marked influence of race and nationality prejudice in the administration of justice is revealed through a study of the average length of sentences, definite and indeterminate, of foreign born, Negro, and white male prisoners received from courts in 1931 and committed to state and federal prisons and reformatories for adults in the United States. The great and relatively constant variations observed must be largely attributed to the human equation in judicial administration and as evidence that equality before the law is a social fiction.

LA - SN - 0002-9602 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/217058 ID - ref1 ER -