Testing the liberation hypothhesis in the diversion of cases from Youth Courts - Is race still a factor in the sentencing process?

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Kalven and Zeisel's (1966) liberation hypothesis has not yet been on England and Wales Youth Court outcomes, where despite the decrease in youth custody the proportion of BAME youth prisoners has risen. It is therefore meaningful to test the liberation hypothesis and examine to what extent, even in serious cases, is race is still a factor in the sentencing process. To test this, I plan to use path analysis based on multiple logistic regression, which allows you to analyse the direct effects of race on sentencing, controlling for other factors, and also test the indirect effects of race on sentencing resulting from the effect of race on other factors related to sentencing. This will allow me to test for both direct and indirect discrimination in the sentencing of BAME youths. The research will aim to be conducted using two dependant variables; sentence type and length of sentence upon which the effects of independent variables, such as prior criminal record, race, gender, age, and type of legal representation will be measured. It will also conduct qualitative research with judges and magistrates to see if they feel race is a factor in the Court outcomes and what they consider are the key influences on the imposition of custodial sentences for young people? This project aims to highlight the mechanisms that produce disparities in sentencing that result in the overrepresentation and increase of BAME youth offenders.