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Collins argues that sexual access, like other valuable commodities, is distributed according to relative power within a sexual stratification system. He predicts more serious official reactions to violations of the sexual stratification system in which men from less powerful groups sexually assault women from more powerful groups. Race continues to be an obvious correlate of stratified sexual access in America. But empirical studies have not assessed the cumulative effect of racial composition of victim-suspect dyads on processing outcomes in sexual assault cases. The present study examined the effect of race composition on processing decisions--from case report to final disposition--for 881 sexual assaults in a large, midwestern city. Step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that, compared to other defendants, black men who assaulted white women received (1) more serious charges and (2) longer sentences …