I lost an entire post. AARGH! Anyhow, I haven't figured out how to create a hyperlink on a Droid, but if you copy and paste this into your browser, you will find a site with a link on the left to a PDF you can download called Racial Disparity in Sentencing; A Review of the Literature. January 2005.
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/racial-disparity-sentencing
A review of literature is a great reference because it aggregates results of multiple other academic studies, in this case 40. The conclusion is that blacks are punished more harshly than whites. It's only about 19 pages and I recommend reading the entire thing. Some statistics mined from some of the various studies reviewed:
-white men aged 18-29 were 38% less likely to be sentenced to prison than black men of the same age group
-in the same group, white men were sentenced to an average prison term almost 3 months shorter than black men of the same group
-in another study, blacks charged with drug offenses were 3.6 times more likely than whites to be considered "habitual offenders" in sentencing
-another: whites providing substantial assistance to the prosecution received an average of 23% reduction in the likelihood of prosecution while blacks received a 13% reduction
-a study in Georgia: The % of difference in probability that blacks would be incarcerated for the following drug offenses:
-25% for drug trafficking
-19% for distribution
-12% for drug use
Please read the entire paper. It's not too long and it gives lots of statistics and summarizes the findings.
If there's any more confusion about the concept of "after controlling for all other variables" let me know.
Have a good evening. It's 8:30 on the East Coast, so I'll be hitting the hay soon!