Thesis II

 

Thesis

ThesisII: Exploring systemic inequalities and the interplay of race, gender, and social class on sentencing outcomes in the state of Virginia.Research Question: how do race, social class, and gender intersect to influence sentencing outcomes in the Virginia justice system?Write a thesis using the table of contents (order of paper)Analyzing data collected from secondary data from a 10-year range 2010-2020 collecting data from Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission, Virginia Department of Corrections, and State Court System Databases.Explain the data (FINDINGS) analyzed and how it aligns with The Intersectionality TheoryAnalyze data researched (FINDINGS) using quantitative analysis method and inferential and descriptive statistics.Use Stratified sampling Use the table of contents to structure

Thesis II:

Table of Contents
Abstract…………………………………………….…………………………………

List of Tables  …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

List of Figures  

Abbreviations…

Chapter One  

Introduction…..

Statement of the Problem…

Purpose of Study….

Significance of Study…

Chapter Two…

Literature Review…

Theoretical Framework…

Research Questions…

Chapter Three…

 Methodology…

Research Design …

Sample/Sampling 

Procedures for Data Collection …………………………………………..                                    Procedures for Data Analysis …

Ethical Considerations/Con

NOTE: Thesis I Proposal is attached that was completed earlier

 

2

Thesis Proposal

Exploring systemic inequities and the interplay of race, gender, and social class on Sentencing Outcomes in the state of Virginia.

By: Fhanel Sinclair

A thesis proposal presented to the Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies at Virginia State University in partial completion of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Virginia 2024

Table of Contents

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………… 3

Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 4

Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………. 9

Significance of the study ………………………………………………………. 11

Literature Review……………………………………………………………… 12

Theoretical Framework ………………………………………………………… 28

Research Questions………………………………………………………………37

Research Methods and Design…………….…………………………………… 38

Sampling ………………………………………………………………………. 40

Data collection ………….………………………………………………………43

Data Analysis Techniques ………………………………………………………45

Limitations……………………………………………………………………… 47

References ………………………………………………………………………. 48

Abstract

This study aims to explore whether the justice systems in the state of Virginia are becoming discriminatory in the intersection of race, social class, gender, and geography. Therefore, the research focuses on understanding how factors such as race, social class, and gender influence the justice system. The study involves the use of mixed methods to collect and analyze data, the data is collected using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The research also employs an intersectional theoretical framework in understanding the biases among marginalized populations. The study findings are expected to provide a clear understanding of the intersectionality of race, gender, social class, and geography and its influence on the justice system in the state of Virginia. Overall, the study acknowledged that there are quite several limitations, the results will however play a vital role in understanding the topic and providing recommendations for policy reforms that advocates, and other groups can use to address the issue.

Introduction

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, stated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr during his speech on the March on Washington in 1963. He was a firm advocate for racial fairness, civil rights, and justice for all no matter your skin color. The justice system is designed to be fair to all citizens by providing impartial judgments equitably has been the foundation of democracy in our country. However, in recent years, researchers have explored the intersection of race, gender, social class, and geography to understand how this system works and ensure that all citizens at all levels experience a fair, impartial, and equitable system. Latinos and blacks tend to be sentenced more harshly than whites for lower-level crimes such as drug and property crimes. However, the findings from these results have shown that there have been significant loopholes in the justice system which was meant to uphold democracy through discriminatory practices that affect people at various levels in society, especially minority groups. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, black male offenders on average received sentences 20.4 percent longer than white males who commit the same crimes (Larche, 2022).

Today, one of the key questions that these researchers and criminal justice advocates have focused on is to ensure that the system upholds the principles of equality in all areas and among all people in the criminal justice system. The color of justice explains in detail with not only numbers but real-life examples of how one will be sentenced not by the crime but simply by the color of their skin. Some of the reported cases indicate that there has been social exclusion and deprivation of opportunities and qualities of life which disadvantage a significant part of the population (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Justice typically is only served when you are a certain color and not belonging to the category of being a “minority”. There are questions about whether some parts of the United States, a country whose foundation is democracy, and equal opportunities uphold the principles of the justice system. Charges carrying statutory mandatory minimum sentences are prosecutors’ most powerful tool to constrain sentences, and disparities in the use of that tool can translate powerfully into sentence disparities. Disparities in the initial charging of a minority of cases appear capable of explaining most otherwise unexplained black-white sentence disparities in the pool (Starr et al., 2014). A lot of street crimes can be looked at as non-violent but because they are mainly committed by a certain social class, they receive harsher punishments. One such area is the state of Virginia which according to statistics has a peculiar demographic composition which makes it a perfect case for determining whether the population around the region experiences any key differences in judicial outcomes depending on their race, gender, social class, and geography.

In most instances, the society focuses on the criminal justice system at the country level and forgets to check what is happening in the grassroots which directly impacts the society and its people. According to Jiggetts (2019), the US is known to be the leading country in mass incarceration, although few people have critically brought up this discussion to society and made it look at the bigger picture of what is happening, the results of these explorations have shown that there are significant social injustices and inequalities, especially in Virginia. Statistics show that despite the US carrying only 5% of the global population, it also accounts for 25% of the world’s incarcerated population, and these statistics raise key questions on the nature of our justice system and the relative nature of the prison population (Jiggetts, 2019). Therefore, in the state of Virginia, there have been efforts to develop restorative and retributivist practices and policies to evaluate the civil and liberty rights of the imprisoned population. The historical background of Virginia’s cultural and legal landscapes shows that the region has been at the forefront of shaping the criminal justice system.

The state of Virginia comprises cities such as Newport News, Norfolk, and Portsmouth, these cities have been part of the broader national conflict around the criminal justice system which revolves around race, gender, class, and geography. Since the region has a wide range of population composition, it is a perfect ground to explore how criminal justice is influenced by these factors. The state of Virginia comprises African Americans who live in major parts of Norfolk and are accompanied by a white population mostly low-income earners living in the rural parts of the city. According to Banaji et al. (2021), historically, explicit policies and practices have played a vital role across all life domains to disadvantage those with low ties in society beginning with slavery, and racial segregation to criminal justice. Therefore, most marginalized communities are more likely to experience very harsh sentencing, limited legal protections, and overly policing authorities. These practices also apply to populations depending on their gender with women especially those of color experiencing harsh challenges in the justice system as they are subjected to sexual assault and or domestic violence. Thus, there is a clear line cutting across these populations which raises questions on the viability of the criminal justice system to provide equitable legal processes.

The social justice system has also been studied by scholars in the social geography context to explore how this system is related to inequality issues, intolerance, and discrimination (Hopkins, 2021). Therefore, social geographers aim to explore the life experiences of those experiencing problematic legal processes and the various policies that can be implemented to ensure that social reality in criminal justice is realized. This research focuses on seeking these answers in state of Virginal because of the region’s experiences with economic inequalities and racial segregation. The disparities experienced in this area are vital in shaping the institutions among them the criminal justice system. The question of justice depends on who in the region faces the institution and how they are likely to be treated.

Throughout the criminal justice research, more emphasis has been focused on other aspects especially in the state of Virginia leaving behind the racial, gender, class, and geographical differences and their impact on how one is treated in the justice system. Thus, this research focuses on this area because it will provide a broader look at how these issues are handled in a wide composition of individuals at various levels in society. This thesis will focus on exploring how the justice system in the state of Virginia has played a role in the continued discriminatory practices in the justice system based on gender, race, social class, and geography. The research will ensure that major patterns of inequality in the country which have also played a significant role in the unfair judicial system in the region are unearthed. Therefore, to ensure that the research captures all areas, and each aspect is explored, both qualitative and quantitative analysis will be vital in understanding the people’s experiences in their interaction with the region’s judicial systems and the major disparities.

Overall, this research will focus on empirical evidence from various literature sources to shed light on the issue and understand the study through other scholar’s perspectives on the identified disparities. Policymakers will have an opportunity to explore the evidence provided in this study and provide recommendations on the most appropriate legal and advocacy actions that can be taken to promote equity and reduce the disparities that the people in the state of Virginia are facing in the justice system. Therefore, the main goal of developing this research is to ensure that the evidence provided is sufficient to expose how people’s identities shape how the criminal justice system treats them despite the law being a two-edged sword that should cut both sides. Thus, this research will focus on the state of Virginia and the main goal will be to provide a comprehensive understanding of how gender, class, race, and geography intersect in the criminal justice to produce outcomes that are discriminatory to various groups in society and what can be done to address these impartial and unequal treatments in the future.

Statement of the Problem

In the state of Virginia, the justice system has for the longest time been influenced by several factors such as geography, race, social class, and gender, these factors have led to various discriminatory practices that have significantly affected various individuals. Although the State of Virginia is committed to providing an impartial and equal justice system, there is evidence showing that people or communities in lower-income, rural minorities, and women especially women of color experience disparities across the legal system in areas such as sentencing, access to representation when faced with legal challenges and rates of arrests (Mendoza, 2023). Although numerous studies have explored the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, few have focused on the impact of race, gender, geography, and social class in the state of Virginia. Therefore, the limited understanding of this topic in these areas shows that there is a gap in how the society in this system experiences the justice system. Thus, this research aims to uncover the equitability and fairness of the legal system in this region by examining whether these social identities have a role in shaping the discriminatory practices that have long been experienced in the state of Virginia.

In the criminal justice system, sometimes where you live may influence your access to justice or a fair and equal day in court. People living in poverty face numerous frightening barriers to access to justice, rejecting them the chance to challenge crimes, abuses, or human rights violations committed against them. The black families and communities are suffering from it. Families are being broken and lives are being ruined, once you receive a certain charge on your criminal record it is much harder to live and maintain in society today. What makes a white man or woman less capable of re-offending? The color of one’s skin should not influence their punishment in any courtroom. Sentencing guidelines are put in place for a reason and should be used no matter your skin color, race, or social class. Black male defendants in federal criminal cases receive much longer prison sentences than white men do. The extent to which these disparities reflect differences in criminal conduct as opposed to differential treatment is a long-standing question in law and economics.

The Significance of the Study

Throughout history, cases of discrimination in the criminal justice system have surfaced in the communities, especially according to race, gender, social class, and geography. Therefore, the significance of this study is to explore the potential intersection between these factors and legal system discrimination because they play a vital role in shaping these people’s experiences in the legal system. Generally, Virginia like many other parts of the country experiences these discriminatory actions in the legal system, therefore, focusing on the state of Virginia is key to this research because the area has historically had complex racial segregation and social class disparities. The area will provide a comprehensive overview of how social identities intersect to influence the criminal justice system.

The significance of understanding these disparities is to ensure that the legal fairness in the area is improved and address the broader social inequalities in the area. The research findings will be vital in providing a deeper understanding of the nature of the problem through a local perspective and the implications of the situation on the broader social justice system in the country. Thus, the research will be significant to policymakers, community advocates, and legal practitioners because I will provide them with a clear picture of the role of discriminatory practices in social justice and various areas in the legal system that require reforms. The research will also identify trends in social justice inequality and inform various organizations on how to create an equitable legal system. The research will also set the foundation for future research on these intersections in other areas.

Literature Review

The justice system is required to provide all members of the community with equitable, impartial, and fair judicial processes and practices irrespective of their age, race, ethnicity, social class, geography, and religion. Despite ongoing efforts to establish a just judicial system, discrimination, and bias remain deeply entrenched within criminal law. These prejudiced practices continue to hinder the ability of criminal legal systems and institutions worldwide to deliver equitable outcomes. In the US, minority, racial, and marginalized communities are likely to be suspected of criminal behaviors compared to the rest of the population and when arrested, they are more likely to be detained in prisons as they await their trial and if the legal system found them guilty, they are also more likely to be punished severely. Thus, his literature review will provide comprehensive research on how race, gender, social class, and geography affect the outcomes in the criminal justice system.

Race and the Justice System

There are extensive studies that explore how race and justice systems interact, the studies have focused on uncovering the systemic inequalities and deep-rooted racial discrimination that have for a long time affected the minority population. According to Kovera (2019), major areas that are affected by racial disparities include participation in juries, prison populations, and policing, although not all these disparities may be a result of racial bias, there is significant evidence that race is a key factor in making decisions on the various areas within the criminal justice system. Racial disparities in the US have been linked to the country’s history during slavery where institutionalized racism and segregation were deeply rooted. Therefore, racial discrimination in the justice system can be traced back to the slave trade and dehumanization with laws such as Jim Crow and the Black Code laws whose main goal was to control marginalized communities (Artis, 2018).

The historical legacy of racism has been vital in shaping the contemporary legal systems, the structural and cultural racism in the justice system is a form of social control with minority groups in the society being major victims through incarceration and arrests (Lee, 2023). For example, over the years, police departments in the US have been a major part of enforcing racial hierarchies and segregation which has been adopted into modern-day segregation practices. According to Lee (2023), the criminalization of people of color is deeply embedded in the cultural and legal framework with Black individuals being majorly targeted, the article notes that dead blacks in the US are part of daily life from the slavery time when they were tossed from ship hulls, shot, hanged and gunned down by police officers. Racial discrimination in the judicial system is promoted through the notion of black savagery which has legitimized the use of oppressive practices in the judicial systems against these populations.

The most visible aspect of racial bias not only in Virginia but in the United States justice system is policing, there is a significant number of research showing that Latinos and Blacks have a higher likelihood of being stopped by police, searched, and even arrested compared to the white population. Pierson et al. (2020) assessed the racial disparities that exist in US policing by analyzing data from almost 100 million traffic police stops across the US, the findings showed that black drivers were less likely to experience traffic stops after sunset because the officers cannot racially identify a driver in the dark. The study concluded that these stops and searches are influenced by racial bias and there is a need to develop policy interventions to ensure these disparities are addressed. In the studies focusing on policing, racial profiling has been a major area of focus.

The use of force by the police is another key area that has raised concerns in policing, according to Lieberman (2024), there are huge disparities in police use of force against Black civilians compared to their White counterparts. Other police officers are required to use reasonable force when conducting arrests and only when excessive force is necessary should be applied, the police have for a long time ignored this directive and racially profiled individuals before deciding which type of force to use. Similarly, despite there being similar rates of drug use across the populations, there is evidence that Black Americans are more likely to face arrests on drug-related offenses, this significant disparity especially on drug arrests especially possession of marijuana has led to significant Black American population being incarcerated despite them being a minority in the country.

Racial discrimination and disparities extend beyond policing, race also plays a vital role in sentencing with many studies showing that Latinos and Black Americans are more likely to be punished harshly by the criminal justice system even with factors such as prior criminal records and type of crime being constant (Franklin & Henry, 2020). In the recent government-led reports, there is strong evidence that shows that ethnic and racial disparities have been key in sentencing, these reports and studies show that marginalized communities are more likely to receive longer sentences, approximately 19.1% longer than White offenders who have committed similar offenses (Veiga et al., 2023). The main explanation that can be generated from these differences is the racial bias among judicial system actors such as juries, prosecutors, and judges, although these judges are trained to be impartial, evidence suggests that their implicit bias impacts how they deliver their sentencing which often results to harsh sentences on minority populations. Although advocacy groups and the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 have reduced the disparities, there is still a long way to go before achieving a proportionate sentence.

The main area of racial discrimination in the judicial system that has caught the eyes of many people is the rate of incarceration and racial disparities. The Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that Black Americans are incarcerated six times the rate at which White Americans are incarcerated raising concerns over the disproportionate structures in the criminal justice that have led to these figures despite Black Americans being a minority population in the country (Parker & Perez-Brumer, 2024). This mass incarceration of marginalized communities is influenced by the policies and processes that target such communities. One of the major policing policies that has become a loophole for mass incarceration of minority communities is the “broken windows” policy which focuses on minor offense cracking to prevent major crimes majorly conducted in minority groups’ neighborhoods. This policing has resulted in the overrepresentation of these marginalized communities in the prisons.

Racial disparities in the criminal justice system have been persistent in the past years and are accompanied by gaps in trust (Camp, 2024). Cumulatively, racial disparities in criminal justice have been promoted by differences in incarceration, sentencing, and policing. These disparities have long-term consequences because they extend beyond the legal system realm to society. Individuals with felony convictions in society are denied basic social necessities such as employment, and voting. Thus, race is a critical factor in understanding disparities in the justice system and it intersects with identities such as gender, social class, and geography to form a complex web of patterns of impartial, and unfair justice system. Moreover, this disparity in race in the judicial system culminates in the disadvantages that minority populations in areas such as the state of Virginia experience. The overall result of such action whether intentionally or unintentionally by the judicial system is a continued wave of poverty, social exclusion, and mass incarceration of specific groups.

Gender and the Justice System

In the justice system, one of the key players that has significantly shaped individual experiences is gender, although previous studies have focused on race and social class, gender disparities in the judicial system have raised concerns about the impacts of gender on legal outcomes. The judicial system has been historically designed in a way that promotes gender disparities, in his article Rahman (2021) notes that “the law is ‘male’” because the criminal justice system is male-dominated. Before the civil rights movements, society was patriarchal, and all laws were designed to enforce the gender norms which mostly viewed women as subordinates to men in the society. Therefore, for very many years, the legal system has historically operated to uphold the dominance of men in society by protecting their rights in areas like family, property, and criminal justice. In the patriarchal system, there were no women’s rights as they were mostly restricted from taking any positions in the criminal justice system.

The nature of the criminal justice system has historically marginalized women and the legal policies and practices did not protect the rights of women which led to the rise of feminist movements to advocate for the rights of women who had been neglected by the legal system. Mendoza (2023) notes that legal institutions and laws have changed significantly over the years to include women, issues such as reproductive rights and sexual violence have now been reinforced in the legal system. Nonetheless, there is still a significant gap in women’s legal structures, and the feminist movements are still advocating and fighting to have the system recognize them and address the significant challenges that women experience in the legal system. There are significant areas in the judicial system that can be discussed concerning gender disparities in the justice system and one of the areas is gender violence. In many societies, women have not achieved freedom, and they are still affected by sexual assault and domestic violence, their effort to seek justice has in most cases been futile because the legal system has put significant barriers to seeking justice on gender-based violence.

When talking about domestic violence, there is a higher chance that a woman is a victim than a man, however, there are still no protection laws and systems to cur these incidences. In the past, domestic violence has been treated as a private matter and the parties involved are told to solve it outside the courtroom because it was not considered a criminal justice issue. These assumptions and lack of recourse have led to under-reporting of the under-prosecution of the perpetrators leading to more cases and harm among women. In research by Rockowitz et al. (2024), sexual violence is a significant human right and public health issue, and survivors face various challenges and barriers when accessing legal justice and medical support. These challenges have led to the enactment of laws protecting women from sexual and domestic violence in the US. The main group of women who suffer from these atrocities are women from low-income societies and women of color, various studies show that a woman who frequently reports sexual and domestic violence is often subjected to skepticism, and in the justice system, they are blamed.

Nonetheless, sexual and domestic violence is prevalent in both genders, and research showed that there are disparities in sentencing between men and women who are charged with sexual offenses, the study found that males who have committed sexual offenses are handed harsh sentences compared to women who have committed similar offense (Beeby et al., 2021). In most cases, judges both men and women and juries are more likely to side with a woman in a sexual offense and are more likely to believe what a woman reports than a man. For example, when a man is beaten by his wife, he is less likely to report it because the authorities will stereotype him as a weak man due to his masculine nature but when a woman reports a similar case, they are empathized, and the man is punished for taking advantage of a “weaker gender.” However, despite sentencing being lenient across genders, there are other disparities with factors such as race and social class affecting how the sentence is given. Women from low-income communities and those of color are likely to be handed harsher sentences for committing similar offenses to a White woman.

Women’s incarceration has become a key area of concern in recent years with the number of those incarcerated increasing significantly, overall, there are more men incarcerated than women but the number of women in prisons has increased significantly in the last few decades. A study shows that before being put in prisons, women are more marginalized than men and they are likely to experience higher rates of mental illness and stigmatization (Bucerius & Sandberg, 2022). Consequently, incarcerated women face other challenges such as sexual violence, motherhood, and pregnancy, most of the women who are arrested and jailed are mothers and, in most instances, they are primary caregivers to their children which brings a significant challenge to their sentencing because it not only affects their life but also the life of their family. These women are incarcerated in prisons in most cases have poor healthcare facilities which affects their reproductive health. Women, unlike men, are not used to living in inherently violent environments but in prisons, the environment is automatically violent leading to more gender violence instead of solving the root cause which is correction.

The gender gap in attitudes towards the death penalty and capital punishment is a widely discussed topic in the criminal justice system. Research shows that men are more likely to be sentenced to life in prison without parole and death penalties by far compared to women, Vito et al. (2022) note that women in the US have consistently been opposed to capital punishment. Although human rights activists have been at the forefront of advocating for scrapping of the death penalty, the death penalty is converted into life in prison without parole or permanent confinement. In the judicial system, it is very common for a man who has committed capital offenses to be handed the death penalty but for a woman to be handed the death penalty, they have to be regarded as deviant and monstrous, and in most cases, this sentence is handed to women who have gone against the natural gender norms such as killing children instead of protecting them and other violent behaviors such as armed robbery. This leniency that women experience when it comes to capital punishment on capital offenses shows the significant disparities in the criminal justice system that exist between men and women. When a woman is believed to have been acting under the influence of a man or drugs, they are given a lesser sentence or rehabilitated, unlike men who are likely to be handed harsher sentences regardless of their condition.

According to Hewins (2023), “women in the criminal justice system are diverse yet marginalized group, living with most dangerous of intersectional oppressions.” Gender in the criminal justice system intersects with social class, race, and other social identities. For instance, marginalized groups such as women of color are likely to experience racial discrimination and gender bias in the justice system. Moreover, social class plays a vital role in these disparities as women of color who are engaged in the sex trade are discriminated and their behavior is regarded as criminal due to their economic status. Therefore, there are key disparities in the judicial system based on gender as men and women experience the judicial system differently and face significant challenges in racial discrimination, incarceration, and gender-based violence. Therefore, there is a need to reform the judicial system to ensure that everyone in the community regardless of their gender, social class, race, and geography is subjected to the legal system uniformly and the barriers to fair and impartial legal practices are removed.

Social Class and the Justice System

In the United States, one of the key areas that has caused disparities in the justice system is social class. Over the past years, there has been an attempt at restorative justice, according to a study, this implementation required public participation, and the process used was not neutral when it came to social class, the study found that the middle class was more privileged in forms of communication they received compared to those from less advantaged backgrounds (Willis, 2020). Therefore, a significant relationship exists between the US justice system and social class. Its historical background dates to several centuries ago when the legal system was set up to protect the rich and control those in lower social classes. Although these disparities have evolved, individuals from lower social classes are economically disadvantaged because their financial status prevents them from enjoying a fair and impartial legal system. The issue of social class in criminal justice is not tied to material wealth, people from higher social classes are not only wealthy but are also connected which allows them to have an upper hand when dealing with consequences that require legal practice compared to those in the low-income tier who may not know someone in a higher place.

In the criminal justice system, one of the most common ways in which the justice system disparities arise is through policing. There numerous studies have explored how low-income communities are targeted with unfair policing compared to high-income communities, they are frequently arrested and the surveillance in these neighborhoods is greater than in in wealthier neighborhoods (Yuval, 2021). In the US, poorer environments have a higher presence of police officers and conduct more frequent stops and searches in members of the communities than wealthy neighborhoods. Moreover, in low-income neighborhoods, members of this community are more likely to be arrested by the police for nonviolent offenses especially petty crimes and the use of drugs. Although these cases are tolerable, the police officers used the “broken window” principle to arrest these individuals citing that they are more likely to engage in more serious offenses. Although the rates of drug use in low-income communities are not different from wealthier communities, a person using drugs from a low-income neighborhood is more likely to be arrested than one in a wealthy neighborhood.

In research by Motley and Joe (2018), male residents with an income of less than $20,000 were at an increased risk of exposure to policing practices such as street stops and the use of excessive force. Therefore, policing and social class have been some of the most studied topics in US policing because individuals from lower social classes especially those from marginalized communities such as people of color and men are more likely to be convicted. This pattern of selective policing practices based on social class shows that people in the community are criminalized because they are poor and often this behavior leads them to even engage in more criminal activities such as drug trafficking, and theft to elevate their social class and escape these policing practices based on their income.

In the changing social structure, the legal profession has been developing specific rationalities to ensure that the legal system responds to political and social dynamics (Caserta, 2022). Therefore, access to legal representation has been one of the key disparities that this development is aiming to balance because, for the longest time, it has been influenced by social class, Higher-income individuals always have resources at their disposal to hire private attorneys who can dedicate their resources and time into solving their cases. However, defendants from low-income communities are significantly affected by the justice system because they cannot afford to hire legal representatives who can adequately dedicate their time and resources to their cases. Although all defendants have a right to legal representation in the US, there has been a significant setback in this because there are limited resources allocated to public defender offices with attorneys in these officers experiencing significant workload with hundreds of cases that are running concurrently. Therefore, research shows that individuals with few resources in the community experience less quality representation which undermines their future chances of life and promotes the social class “rabble” (Dennison & Demuth, 2018).

Insufficient defense in legal representation means that low-income communities are more likely to receive a low-quality legal representation which results in to lack of time to investigate the case, poor defense in court, and negotiation of plea deals. This insufficient representation affects mostly low-income defendants who in many instances will be forced to plead guilty even in cases where they did not commit an offense to avoid going to trial and losing the case which may result in a harsher sentence. Legal battles can be costly and lengthy and for people with limited financial resources, this process may be unaffordable and the only way to put everything behind them is to plead guilty even in offenses that they did not commit. The dynamic of cash bail has also been a key issue because those low-income communities cannot afford to pay hence, they are detained before trial which in most cases leads most of them to plead guilty to be released.

Social class is a key factor in the criminal justice system in sentencing outcomes, studies show that there are significant disparities between people with higher incomes and those with lower incomes. According to Rickett (2021), the role of Juries in criminal justice is to ensure that the rights of every defendant are upheld by determining if they are guilty or innocent, however, social identities such as social class may result in bias which clouds their judgment when making decisions. These disparities arise from the individual’s inability to afford private attorneys who can argue for alternative sentencing or favorable bail for their clients. Moreover, in most instances, defendants from low-income communities are believed to be more likely to repeat an offense or have fewer chances of rehabilitation compared to those from high-income communities, therefore, they are sentenced to longer periods. The criminal justice system is designed to punish those from lower social classes more harshly than those from higher social classes, according to research by Schmidt and Kroska (2023), the occupational prestige of the defendant plays a vital role in criminal sentencing, the study shows that there is a positive relationship between occupational prestige and the severity of the sentencing. People in white-collar jobs who commit white-collar crimes such as embezzlement and fraud receive lenient sentencing compared to those from poor backgrounds who commit crimes such as drug offenses and burglary. These systematic disparities between the rich and poor on sentencing reflect the historical biases that have existed in the country.

Race, social class, and gender in the criminal justice system intersect to produce a pattern of complex inequalities within the system. This intersection is mostly common among people of color with low income who are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Moreover, social class and gender also intersect in the legal system because most women who are involved in criminal justice most of them are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, mainly from low-income families. Moving forward, one of the significant effects of judicial disparities is the criminalization of poverty, low-income individuals suffer significantly in the hands of the legal system because they cannot afford the financial resources required such as restitution, probation, and court fees which lead to sanctions such as legal penalties such as suspensions of their licenses. Thus, advocacy and reform movements must focus on initiatives that will help individuals in the low-income tier access an equal and impartial justice system without being criminalized for their financial status.

Geography and the Justice System

Disparities in the criminal justice system extend beyond race, gender, and social class, geography is another factor that plays a vital role in shaping how individuals experience justice, and there are significant differences between urban, suburban, and rural areas. Geography determines how resources are allocated, incarceration rates, and legal outcomes. One of the key distinctions in the criminal justice system is the disparities between rural and urban environments, in urban areas, there are dense populations which reinforces the need to have more concentrated law enforcement officers, court systems, and other legal resources. According to Elfversson et al. (2024), there is a distinct difference in policing, incarceration, and prosecution in rural and urban areas because there are more aggressive and visible forms of the judicial system in the urban areas to combat crime rates. The study also shows that in rural areas, there are fewer police which results in low response rates because few officers are assigned to cover a significant geographical area. However, it is also an advantage to the rural communities because they are not harassed by the police, they may also have to experience challenges during emergencies and when dealing with crime.

There is a resurgent urban/rural divide in the justice system (Hirschl, 2022), these differences have led to disparities in how laws are enforced with approaches in policing and drug crimes targeting people in the urban areas more than those living in rural spaces. Nevertheless, geographical locations also affect sentencing, with defendants from rural areas experiencing harsher sentences than those from urban areas. In rural areas, there are limited alternatives to individuals who are found guilty of the offense, the disparity between the rural and urban areas means that the availability of options such as diversion programs and rehabilitation are limited compared to urban areas where defendants can be sentenced to community service and rehabilitation to avoid jail term. Smith’s (2020) research shows that uniform sentencing is “unfit for society” with sentencing disparities being associated with social inequalities such as geography. In this study, Smith (2020) found that despite having lower crime rates than urban areas, rural population in the US have some of the highest incarceration rates because residents in rural areas have a higher chance of being sent to jail than in urban areas where such individuals are rehabilitated or sentenced to community work.

The US has the highest level of incarceration in the world, between 1920 and 1970s, the incarceration rate averaged 110 per 100,000 persons in 1980 it increased to 220, and by 2016 the rate was 670 per 100,000 persons (Weidner & Schultz, 2019). Most of these cases are reported in the rural areas where according to the study, the closure of manufacturing and coal mining industries in these areas has left many people homeless, led to high poverty rates and substance abuse which are catalysts for incarceration. Therefore, rural areas have struggled to cope with the social and economic challenges that have led to an overwhelming justice system leading to harsh sentences for defendants because they over-rely on mass incarceration to solve social problems. The geographical disparities play a vital role in understanding racial segregation, slavery, and racial violence that have shaped the development of justice in both rural and urban areas. According to Amin et al. (2024), local, state, and federal laws have influenced the differences in incarceration in towns and cities across the country, the Southern States in the US have some of the highest incarceration rates in the country, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have the highest per capita incarceration rates in the country. The increased rates of incarceration in the Southern part are due to the social control mechanism aimed at racial control, this reliance on incarceration to solve social problems in the region has led to crowded prisons and a lack of resources to rehabilitate the individuals.

Access to legal representation disparities in rural and urban areas is an important factor that has led to different individual experiences in the judicial system. People living in rural areas have limited access to legal services, there are few rehabilitation programs, defense attorneys, and public defenders who can help them in their trials. With limited legal system resources in rural areas, individuals experience longer pre-trial detentions, few opportunities for rehabilitation, and harsh sentences. Access to legal representation is very important for defendants, they can privately talk to their lawyers and go through all the legal processes with confidential advice (Davies & Peck, 2022). Defendants in urban areas have adequate access to these resources because they are found in abundance, in rural areas where there are small legal markets, access to private defense attorneys is limited and individuals who wish to hire a high-quality attorney will require a large amount of cash. This lack of effective representation is a major challenge causing disproportionate legal representation.

The legal requirement for rehabilitation varies across various countries, in the US the law requires that individuals who have been incarcerated be rehabilitated to become better members of the society (Garg et al., 2020). Geographic isolation plays a vital role in the development of rehabilitation programs such as mental health centers, reentry programs, and drug abuse treatment. These resources are most concentrated in urban areas which leaves rural areas with limited resources to access the rehabilitation programs. Individuals in rural areas end up having higher rates of recidivism because they leave prisons without the required support to be reintegrated into society. The disparity in these resources between rural and urban areas does not only affect a small portion of the population but results in significant changes in the social structures because individuals are likely to be re-arrested for the offense they were involved in because the rehabilitation was unsuccessful, and they cannot integrate in the society.

Although punishment is the main aim of imprisoning individuals, the European penal policy focuses on the rehabilitative aim of imprisonment (Meijer, 2017). From a legal point of view, rehabilitation focuses on positive obligation and has been referred to in a positive light, the emphasis of the judicial system is on reintegration and rehabilitation. However, the disparities in geography prevent effective regional balance on rehabilitation among other judicial system experiences. The intersection between geography and race, gender, and social class falls on representation, the research found that the Southern part of the US has higher cases of incarceration because individuals are targeted for their racial background. People of color living in rural areas have a higher chance of incarceration compared to those in urban environments because they are criminalized for their race and geography. Similarly, most people in rural areas are believed to be poor and discrimination based on social class in the judicial system has been a historical trend. Thus, these rural areas with a unique history of economic and racial minorities are controlled through the judicial system resulting in high incarceration rates in the rural areas in the US.

Overall, geography plays a vital role in the criminal justice system, the research has shown that there is a need to develop equitable and partial policies and practices that will improve legal systems in rural areas. There are unique challenges facing policymakers in rural areas due to limited resources, these isolated communities have historical experiences of regional disparities in the justice system. Thus, there is a need to create a justice system that will improve the legal processes, allocate more resources, and fair legal sentencing and incarceration of those in rural areas. This equal and impartial distribution of justice regardless of the region where an individual lives will ensure that the rates of incarceration are reduced, and defendants are rehabilitated in prisons uniformly.

Theoretical Framework

The intersectionality of race, gender, social class, and geography in the criminal justice system has led to significant discriminatory practices that have been explored by different researchers in the studies presented in the literature review. Moreover, there are theoretical frameworks that are relevant to the study and that provide a clear view of the structures in the system that have led to these discriminatory practices. The theories will be vital in this research because they will allow us to connect the findings in the state of Virginia with the larger social issue and various academic debates on the issue. Since the justice system is an institution that depends significantly on the societal structures that a key in influencing and in some instances perpetuating racial, social class, gender, and geographical inequalities, there is a need to understand the various mechanisms that led to these inequalities in the state of Virginia and the entire country by analyzing the role of the justice system in contributing or mitigating these discriminatory policies and practices.

In this study, the theoretical framework focuses on one primary theoretical framework that forms the foundation for other theories, the intersectionality theory. This is the main theory in which the study is anchored, through this theory, the study will explore how each one is involved in the justice system in the state of Virginia and the discriminatory practices associated with each and the population that is affected. Overall, the theory will be crucial in the study findings because it will help develop recommendations to the justice system and advocacy groups on the most appropriate practices to reduce racial gender, and social class discrimination in the legal system.

Intersectionality Theory

The intersectionality theory is a framework that is rooted in the premise of human experience and how they are jointly shaped the multiple social identities such as race, gender, and social class (Bauer et al., 2021). Therefore, the role of this theoretical framework is to explore how these social identities intersect and the various ways in which they result in discrimination. For instance, the theory can be used to describe the experiences of Black women in the state of Virginia and how they face both sexism and racism, these experiences cannot be understood by analyzing either race or gender independently but through an intersectionality lens. This theory is very important in analyzing the critical aspects of various forms of identity and how they interact with the judicial system. Take the example of a White man from an urban, middle class and a Black woman from a rural lower class, these two people are most likely to experience significant differences in the judicial system because of the marginalization of minority groups by the law. Thus, in the criminal justice context, intersectionality theory shows that marginalized populations face more disadvantages in the legal system. There are cases of systemic racism, geographical disadvantages, and gender discrimination affecting minority groups, these populations are at a greater risk of harsher legal outcomes compared to other populations.

In the field of women and gender studies, intersectionality is a widely adopted theoretical framework, the theory reflects on larger social structures and cases of oppression, and privilege such as heteronormativity, racism, and sexism (Kelly et al., 2021). Therefore, the role of this theory is to examine the justice system in the Southeast Region of Virginia by considering multiple identities that impact the justice system experiences of the people living in the region. According to this theory, oppression due to geography classism, sexism, and racism do not act alone but they are intertwined. The justice system acts as a site where these oppressions manifest themselves, the invisibility or visibility of these groups is manifested through the design in which the legal system addresses the inequalities at the time.

In Virginia, justice may be explored through a reflection on the historical context and the patterns of discrimination among groups based on class, race, gender, and geography. The intersectionality between these patterns of discrimination provides a tool that helps researchers uncover the connections between race, gender, and social class and their impact on the justice system. Overall, the theory is important because it provides a clear interconnection between the justice system and its role in perpetuating structural discrimination through omission of the intersecting identities.

Research Question

In understanding whether the justice system in the state of Virginia is becoming discriminatory at the intersection of race, gender, social class, and geography, the following research questions will be key in guiding the study.

1. How do race, social class, and gender intersect to influence sentencing outcomes in the Virginia justice system?

Hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: In Virginia, individuals from marginalized racial groups and lower socioeconomic classes, particularly men, are more likely to receive harsher sentencing outcomes than their white and higher-class counterparts, demonstrating the compounded effect of intersecting identities.

Exploring the impacts of race, gender, social class, and geography in the state of Virginia using the above research questions will be investigating the complex interplay between social identities.

Research Methodology and Design

The complexity of the interplay between race, gender, class, and geography in the justice system in Virginia provides a key background for exploring the discriminatory practices in the area. Therefore, this research section will be vital because it will explore comprehensively the research mechanisms that the study will use. Since the research involves analysis of various social aspects, this research design will conduct quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. The process is critical because it explores the complex intersectionality between social identities and will provide our research with a more realistic and holistic understanding of the justice system. The quantitative methods are very important in the research because they involve analysis of the existing data from the region.

Secondly, data will also be collected from public defender’s records, this source will provide data on the legal representation that the social identity groups identified in this research received based on the location and level of income. Moreover, recidivism rates will provide insights into the rate at which individuals re-offended focusing on their social class, gender, race, and location. Another important record that will also be included in the quantitative data will be the sentencing, this report will focus on analyzing the discriminatory practices that may be evident in the conviction records based on race, gender, social class, and the location of the defendants. After collecting this data, we will use inferential analysis and descriptive statistics analysis to help us understand discriminatory practices and how they relate to race, gender, age, and geography.

Sampling

This is a very important part of the research because it will determine the size of the population through which data will be collected and analyzed. The focus of this study is to explore the discriminatory practices in the justice system in Virginia and the role of race, gender, social class, and geography in these practices. Thus, developing an effective sampling procedure will be important because it will ensure that the research findings answer the research questions. The most appropriate sampling strategy for this research therefore is the purposive sampling strategy, purposive sampling designs entail the deliberate selection of participants by researchers based on specific characteristics pertinent to their research question, intending to gain targeted insights rather than achieving a representative sample of the broader population. Using Purposive sampling I will identify the key criteria for the difference that are relevant to the research question. For example, in the criminal justice court system, criteria will include, criminal charges, race/gender, sentencing patterns, and level of government support. I will then analyze and investigate the particularities of each case, as well as patterns that are shared across the variation.

Quantitative Data Sampling

This example will encompass individuals who have had firsthand experience with the legal system, whether they were victims/suspects, or workers affected in the state of Virginia. Therefore, thus the sample which will mostly be drawn from secondary data will involve:

• Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission

• Virginia Department of Corrections

• State Court System Databases

Secondary data in criminal justice can be accessed from government agencies, academic institutions, research organizations, and legal databases. The key is to identify the right source based on your research focus and data needs. By leveraging these sources, researchers can gain valuable insights and create a strong foundation for their studies in the criminal justice system.

The sampling method for this data will be purposive sampling, this will ensure that the data is representative of the population, and it will be observations based on social class, race, gender, and geography. This sampling aims to ensure that the data is a representation of each stratum. The power analysis will be important in determining the sample size but approximately 800 to 1300 cases will be enough to represent the region. By suggesting that 800-1300 cases are sufficient to “represent the region,” it suggests that this number of cases should include a varied enough mix of the population within the region to ensure accurate conclusions can be drawn.

Potential Data Collection Procedure

This data may be collected from recidivism rates, records showing individual arrests, outcomes of sentences, and rates of conviction in the area. The data collected from the archives in the state of Virginia will be analyzed to identify the various patterns of racial, gender, social class, and geographical discrimination in the justice system.

Quantitative data collection cannot be ignored in this research, first, the main source of quantitative data is the secondary sources which include the legal system database and the public records. Therefore, various data samples that will be collected include arrest records, this data will include information on rates by social class, race, gender, and geography.

Potential Data Analysis

Data analysis is very important in research and there are various methods of analyzing data depending on whether it is qualitative or quantitative. Therefore, in this research, quantitative data will be analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics. The key metrics that will be evaluated will include length of sentences, conviction rates, and rates of arrests. To test if mean sentencing outcomes differ significantly across groups defined by race, gender, or social class I will use ANOVA. Since the dependent variable is likely to be continuous (e.g., sentence length in months or years).

The data analysis procedure will follow several steps, first, the quantitative data from the different sources will need to be prepared first.

•
Data cleaning: This is the first step, and it will involve data review to ensure that the information collected is complete, consistent, and accurate, some of the processes will include correcting inconsistent data, checking for missing values, and ensuring that the data is ready for analysis.

•
Transformation: These variables will require some form of transformation to make them ordinal or categorical in the analysis scales, thus, this will be an important step in preparing the data.

Descriptive Statistics and Data Visualization: Use descriptive statistics e.g., means, percentages, and visualization data e.g. charts to summarize your data and identify patterns that inform hypothesis testing. All these are quantitative data analysis procedures. When conducting hypothesis testing, several statistical tools and methods can be used depending on the nature of the data and the specific hypotheses being tested. Each method plays a key role in hypothesis testing and provides insight into whether the data supports or refutes the null hypothesis. My variables are Race, Gender, Social Class (independent variables), and Sentencing Outcome (dependent variable).

Study limitations

This study aims to provide comprehensive data on the potential discrimination in the justices of the state of Virginia. Nonetheless, the study has several limitations that may affect its findings, generalizability, and its scope. The study aims to use secondary data from arrests, sentencing, recidivism, and court documents which may either be incomplete, sealed, or restricted. Secondly, this study majorly focuses on the state of Virginia, the findings from this region may not apply to other regions within the US. Lastly, maintaining the confidentiality of the participants may be a significant challenge, however, by acknowledging these limitations, the study will aim to provide transparent and reliable findings.

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