Introduction
Asked to stereotype a criminal, many people are likely to go for a certain gender (usually male), a certain social class (usually low class), a certain race (usually black) and a certain age (usually under the age of 30). In the early days, courtrooms exclusively comprised of white decision makers. Today there is more racial diversity in the composition of judicial benches. In spite of this progress; race, class and gender still play a critical role in numerous criminal justice outcomes. The role of these issues usually comes in handy in the sentencing of convicts. More than 40 studies have been conducted in regard to ...