Mandatory Minimum Reforms, Sentencing, and Racial-Ethnic Disparities

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry-Ann Craigie ◽  
Mariyana Zapryanova

Abstract Over the last 20 years, numerous states and the federal government enacted mandatory minimum reforms, especially for drug offenses. Yet little is known about how effective these reforms have been at the state-level in lowering drug sentences. Using quasi-experimental methods and administrative data, this study evaluates the impact of state-level mandatory minimum reforms on drug sentences and their concomitant racial-ethnic disparities. We find that state-level mandatory minimum reforms do not lower drug sentences in general or change racial-ethnic disparities statistically significantly. These findings suggest that the profound racial-ethnic bias sparked by state-level mandatory minimums are not fully ameliorated by subsequent state-level reforms.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 22-23
Author(s):  
Latarsha Chisholm ◽  
Akbar Ghiasi ◽  
Justin Lord ◽  
Robert Weech-Maldonado

Abstract Racial/ethnic disparities have been well documented in long-term care literature. As the population ages and becomes more diverse over time, it is essential to identify mechanisms that may eliminate or mitigate racial/ethnic disparities. Culture change is a movement to transition nursing homes to more home-like environments. The literature on culture change initiatives and quality has been mixed, with little to no literature on the use of culture change initiatives in high Medicaid nursing homes and quality. The purpose of this study was to examine how the involvement of culture change initiatives among high Medicaid facilities was associated with nursing home quality. The study relied on both survey and secondary nursing home data for the years 2017-2018. The sample included high Medicaid (85% or higher) nursing homes. The outcome of interest was the overall nursing home star rating obtained from the Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Quality Rating System. The primary independent variable of interest was the years of involvement in culture change initiatives among nursing homes, which was obtained from the nursing home administrator survey. The final model consisted of an ordinal logistic regression with state-level fixed effects. High-Medicaid nursing homes with six or more years in culture change initiatives had higher odds of having a higher star rating, while facilities with one year or less had significantly lower odds of having a higher star rating. Culture change initiatives may require some time to effectively implement, but these initiatives are potential mechanisms to improve quality in high Medicaid nursing homes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Andrasfay ◽  
Noreen Goldman

COVID-19 had a huge mortality impact in the US in 2020 and accounted for the majority of the 1.5-year reduction in 2020 life expectancy at birth. There were also substantial racial/ethnic disparities in the mortality impact of COVID-19 in 2020, with the Black and Latino populations experiencing reductions in life expectancy at birth over twice the reduction experienced by the White population. Despite continued vulnerability of the Black and Latino populations, the hope was that widespread distribution of effective vaccines would mitigate the overall impact and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in 2021. In this study, we use cause-deleted life table methods to estimate the impact of COVID-19 mortality on 2021 US period life expectancy. Our partial-year estimates, based on provisional COVID-19 deaths for January-early October 2021 suggest that racial/ethnic disparities have persisted and that life expectancy at birth in 2021 has already declined by 1.2 years from pre-pandemic levels. Our projected full-year estimates, based on projections of COVID-19 deaths through the end of 2021 from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, suggest a 1.8-year reduction in US life expectancy at birth from pre-pandemic levels, a steeper decline than the estimates produced for 2020. The reductions in life expectancy at birth estimated for the Black and Latino populations are 1.6-2.4 times the impact for the White population.


Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 144 (Suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Summer Chavez ◽  
Ryan Huebinger ◽  
Kevin Schulz ◽  
Hei Kit Chan ◽  
Micah Panczyk ◽  
...  

Introduction: Prior research shows a greater disease burden, lower BCPR rates, and worse outcomes in Black and Hispanic patients after OHCA. The CDC has declared that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected many racial and ethnic minority groups. However, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on OHCA incidence and outcomes in different races and ethnicities is unknown. Purpose: To describe racial/ethnic disparities in OHCA incidence, processes of care and outcomes in Texas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used data from the Texas Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES) comparing adult OHCA from the pre-pandemic period (March 11 - December 31, 2019) to the pandemic period (March 11- December 31, 2020). The racial and ethnic categories were White, Black, Hispanic or Other. Outcomes were rates of BCPR, AED use, sustained ROSC, prehospital termination of resuscitation (TOR), survival to hospital admission, survival to discharge and good neurological outcomes. We fit a mixed effect logistic regression model, with EMS agency designated as the random intercept to obtain aORs. We adjusted for the pandemic and other covariates. Results: A total of 8,070 OHCAs were included. The proportion of cardiac arrests increased for Blacks (903 to 1, 113, 24.9% to 25.5%) and Hispanics (935 to 1,221, 25.8% to 27.5%) and decreased for Whites (1 595 to 1,869, 44.0% to 42.1%) and Other (194 to 220, 5.4% to 5.0%) patients. Compared to Whites, Black (aOR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.65-0.82) and Hispanic patients (aOR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.68-0.87) were less likely to receive BCPR. Compared to Whites, Blacks were less likely to have sustained ROSC (aOR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.70-0.93%), with lower rates of survival to hospital admission (aOR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.75-1.0), and worse neurological outcomes (aOR = 0.45, 95% 0.28-0.73). Hispanics were less likely to have prehospital TOR compared to Whites (aOR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75-0.99). The Utstein bystander survival rate was worse for Blacks (aOR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.54-0.97) and Hispanics (aOR = 0.71, 95% 0.53-0.95) compared to Whites. Conclusion: Racial and ethnic disparities persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas.


Author(s):  
Chad Posick

Existing evidence clearly supports an empirical connection between offending and victimization. Often called the “victim–offender overlap,” this relationship holds for both sexes, across the life course, and across a wide range of countries and cultural environments. In addition, the relationship is sustained regardless of the study sample and statistical methods applied in the analyses of the sample data. However, there has yet to be a study that examines this relationship for violent and property crime using quasi-experimental methods accounting for a wide range of potential confounders including individual differences and cultural contexts. This study subjects the victim–offender relationship to testing through propensity score matching for both violent and property crimes using an international dataset. The results show that previous violent and theft offending increases the odds of victimization when matching on individual and contextual factors. This finding supports previous literature and suggests that delinquent behavior may act as a “switch” that exposes one to subsequent violent and theft victimization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8155
Author(s):  
Donald A. Chapman ◽  
Johan Eyckmans ◽  
Karel Van Acker

Private car-use is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Car-sharing is often hypothesised as a potential solution to reduce car-ownership, which can lead to car-sharing users reducing their car-use. However, there is a risk that car-sharing may also increase car-use amongst some users. Existing studies on the impacts of car-sharing on car-use are often based on estimates of the users’ own judgement of the effects; few studies make use of quasi-experimental methods. In this paper, the impact of car-sharing on car-ownership and car-use in Flanders, Belgium is estimated using survey data from both sharers and non-sharers. The impact on car-use is estimated using zero-inflated negative binomial regression, applied to matched samples of car-sharing users and non-users. The results show that the car-sharing may reduce car-use, but only if a significant number of users reduce their car-ownership. Policy intervention may therefore be required to ensure car-sharing leads to a reduction in car-use by, for example, discouraging car-ownership. Further research using quasi-experimental methods is required to illuminate whether the promise of car-sharing is reflected in reality.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Durante

Previous macro-level studies of racial and ethnic disparities in prison admissions have focused narrowly on differences in offending and have limited their analyses to national- and state-level data. This study explores three alternative explanations for inequality in prison admissions for Blacks and Latinos compared to Whites: racial/ethnic threat, socioeconomic inequality, and the political and legal climate. I analyze data from multiple county- and state-level sources and employ hierarchical linear modeling techniques to examine the role of both county- and state-level factors in producing inequality in county-level prison admission rates. Findings indicate that Black–White disparities are lower in jurisdictions with greater shares of Black citizens; however, the reverse is true for Latino–White inequality. For both comparisons, political conservatism is associated with less inequality. Results also indicate that counties with greater parity in income and employment across race/ethnicity and that are located in the South have reduced racial/ethnic disparities in prison admissions. I argue that the presence of large shares of African Americans and of Republican voters, in addition to southern location, are likely better indicators of total prison admission rates than of racial/ethnic disparities in prison admissions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 7005-7005
Author(s):  
Andrea Catherine Enzinger ◽  
Kaushik Ghosh ◽  
Nancy Lynn Keating ◽  
David M Cutler ◽  
Mary Beth Landrum ◽  
...  

7005 Background: Heightened US opioid regulations may limit advanced cancer patients’ access to effective pain management, particularly for racial/ethnic minority and other vulnerable populations. We examined trends in opioid access, disparities in access, and pain-related emergency department (ED) visits among cancer patients near end of life (EOL). Methods: Using a 20% random sample of Medicare FFS beneficiaries, we identified 243,124 patients with poor prognosis cancers who died between 2007-2016. We examined trends in outpatient opioid prescription fills and pain-related ED visits near EOL (30 days prior to death or hospice enrollment), for the overall cohort and by race (white, black, other). Per-capita opioid supply by state was obtained from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency ARCOS database. Geographic fixed-effects models examined predictors of opioid use near EOL, opioid dose in morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), and pain-related ED visits, adjusted for patient demographic and clinical characteristics, state, opioid supply, and year. Results: From 2007-2016 the proportion of patients with poor prognosis cancers filling an opioid prescription near EOL fell from 41.7% to 35.7%, with greater decrements among blacks (39.3% to 29.8%) than whites (42.2% to 36.5%) and other races (38.2% to 32.4%). The proportion of patients receiving long-acting opioids near EOL fell from 17% to 12% overall (15% to 9% among blacks). Among patients receiving EOL opioids, the median daily dose fell from 40MMEs (IQR 16.5-98.0) to 30MMEs (IQR 15.0–78.8). In adjusted analyses, blacks were less likely than whites to receive EOL opioids (AOR 0.85; 95% CI, 0.80 to 0.91) and on average received 10MMEs less per day (b -9.9; 95% CI -15.7 to -4.2). Patients of other race were also less likely to receive EOL opioids (AOR 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.95), although their dose did not differ significantly from whites. Rates of pain-related ED visits near EOL increased from 13.2% to 18.8% over the study period. In adjusted analyses, blacks were more likely than whites to have pain-related ED visits (AOR 1.29, 95% CI, 1.16-1.37) near death, as were those of other races (AOR 1.30; 95% CI, 1.17-1.37). Conclusions: While lawmakers have sought to mitigate the impact of opioid regulations upon cancer patients, access to EOL opioids have decreased substantially over time with concomitant increases in pain-related ED visits. There are significant racial/ethnic disparities in opioid access, with blacks receiving fewer opioids at lower doses and having more ED-based care for pain near EOL.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Farizah Yulianti ◽  
Sutrio Sutrio ◽  
Hairunisyah Sahidu

The aim of this research is to know the impact of the applying Giving Question Getting Answers model with experimental methods toward the learning motivation and result of physics learning. The type of research used was quasi-experimental with posttest only control group design. The population was all student of grade XI in senior high school 1 of  Labuapi. The sampling technique used saturation sampling, while the sample are class XI MIA 1 as the experimental 1 class, and the XI MIA 2 as experimental 2 class. Experimental 1 class was treated with giving question getting answers learning model with experimental methods and experimental 2 class was treated with giving question getting answers learning model without experimental methods. The instrument of motivation learning was used motivation questionnaire and instrument the result of physics learning used multiple choice test. The research hypothesis was tested using Manova-test, data analysis shows that Sig. <0,05 which mean that H0 was rejected and Ha accepted. Thus, it can be concluded that there are effect of Giving Question Getting Answers model with experimental methods on student’s motivation and physics learning result.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document