Howard Henderson
Professor of Justice Administration, Texas Southern University
Key Findings
- Minority populations with higher predictive risk scores are less likely to successfully complete their probation period than Whites with equitable scores.
- Being an African American and male is a significant predictor of failing the terms of probation.
- Hispanic individuals who commit crime may have a better chance of completing probation successfully.
Description
In the article, “On the Precipice of Intersectionality: The Influence of Race, Gender, and Offense Severity Interactions on Probation Outcomes,” Henderson and his co-authors examine the impact of established predictors on probation failure using one of the largest data sets of probationers analyzed to date. Their findings suggest that race, gender, location, offense severity and risk assessment scores significantly predict probation failure. This research extends the existing literature, finding that there are different probation experiences for offenders based on racial and ethnic characteristics.