What is it for?
It helps voters, journalists, researchers, lawyers, community members, and public officials ask better questions about sentencing.
Public sentencing data, explained
See the patterns behind criminal sentences.
CourtScope studies many similar cases to measure racial gaps in two outcomes: who is sentenced to incarceration and how long incarceration sentences are.
Start with the basics
What is this site?
CourtScope is a public-interest research tool. It organizes court records so people can inspect sentencing patterns that are difficult to see one case at a time.
What does it measure?
It measures adjusted racial gaps in incarceration and sentence length across qualifying cases assigned to the same judge.
What does it not do?
It does not decide whether one case was appropriate, tell anyone how to vote, or make a finding about a judge’s motives.
Read the number plainly
Understanding the Disparity Score
The score is descriptive, not a personal rating. It summarizes the largest measured racial gap found in the two sentencing outcomes.
0–29Smaller racial gaps
30–59Moderate racial gaps
60–100Bigger racial gaps
A measured disparity does not prove racism, discrimination, intent, misconduct, or whether any individual sentence was appropriate.
How it works
How CourtScope checks sentencing patterns
We do not treat every case as if it were the same. We compare outcomes across racial groups after accounting for supported case differences.
- We compare cases with similar offense severity and prior-record histories.
- We account for plea versus trial, age, and gender when supported by the data.
- We compare each racial group separately with White defendants; we do not hide differences inside one combined minority group.
- We publish “Not Enough Data” when coverage, sample size, or uncertainty does not pass the rules.
How to use the site
Five steps from score to context
- Choose a city.Each city has its own courts, records, coverage window, and data status.
- Open a judge card.Read the score, label, number of qualifying cases, and data strength.
- Open “Why this score?”See which outcome produced the larger measured gap and the most important group comparisons.
- Compare only within the same court.Different courts may handle different cases and should not be treated as one league table.
- Read the methodology.Use the full method and data limitations before drawing conclusions.
Available jurisdictions
Choose a city
A city dashboard may be visible as a clearly labeled fixture preview before official records are published. Public downloads remain locked until the city passes every data gate.
Preview
Open Memphis Memphis
Synthetic preview only. No conclusions about real judges or courts are published.
Can this prove discrimination?
No. It can identify patterns that deserve examination.
Statistical patterns may raise important questions. They cannot, by themselves, establish why a difference occurred or whether a legal violation took place.
Open and expandable
Inspect the method. Help add a city.
CourtScope publishes its methodology, data requirements, limitations, and source code so the work can be reviewed and improved.