Systemic Reform

Plea and Punishment: Federal sentencing disparities from 2002 to 2025 with an exploratory meta-analysis

Sonny Saggar, MD

What this paper examines

Submitted to SSRN; awaiting review. Analyzes federal sentencing records from 2002 to 2025 alongside an exploratory meta-analysis. The imprisonment gap narrowed while the sentence-length gap widened. Comparisons concern convicted defendants and do not establish the causal cost of choosing trial; the systematic review remains incomplete.

Original research

View on SSRN

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