The Legacy of Slavery and Mass Incarceration: Evidence from Felony Case Outcomes

Abstract

One common explanation for mass incarceration is that it is the latest in a series of institutions created to enforce the racial hierarchy in the United States. Despite this perspective’s prominence, it has been rarely tested empirically with extensive quantitative data. In this article, we begin to fill this gap by examining whether individuals charged with felonies experience worst-case outcomes when they are charged in counties that had high rates of slavery in 1860. Using multiple regression models that include state-year fixed effects and account for historical county-level factors and contemporary individual characteristics, we find that a criminal charge in a county with high levels of slavery in 1860 increases the likelihood of pretrial detention, the probability of a sentence of incarceration, and the length of incarceration sentences. These results hold for the full sample and for Black and White individuals separately.