Now You See It, Now You Don ’t: A Simulation and Illustration of the Importance of Treating Incomplete Data in Estimating Race Effects in Sentencing

ConclusionsThe existence and magnitude of race effects on the likelihood of an incarceration sentence can vary greatly based on the degree, pattern, assumptions, and treatment of missing data. Limitations include that missing data mechanisms cannot be truly known outside of a data simulation. Future sentencing research should prioritize the identification, treatment, and reporting of missing data prior to isolating race effects, in line with calls from the field for more open science practices. Sensitivity analyses should also be prioritized.
Source: Journal of Quantitative Criminology - Category: Criminology Source Type: research