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

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.

Canonical URL: https://newphysician.org/research/plea-and-punishment/

## Related public resources
- [Research library](https://newphysician.org/research/)
- [View on SSRN](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7670620)