Analysis of the Sentencing System (From Criminal Justice System - A Social Psychological Analysis, P 293-332, 1982, Vladimir J Konecni and Ebbe B Ebbesen, ed. - See NCJ-87097)

• NCJ Number: 87108
• Author(s): V J Konecni; E B Ebbesen
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 40 pages
• Sale Source: W H Freeman and Co
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using both simulation and real-world research, this study aims at identifying judges' decision strategies and develops a causal model of sentencing.

Abstract

The focus of the project was factors affecting sentencing in San Diego County. In the simulation studies, four different data-collection methods were used involving four subject populations. They included interviews with eight San Diego County Superior Court judges, a questionnaire survey of judges, judges' use of rating scales applied to various factors that influence sentencing, and three experimental simulations. Each of the studies yielded different results, thus reducing confidence in any of them. The real-world studies consisted of the observation and coding of sentencing hearings and the coding of court files associated with sentencing. The causal model developed from the findings holds that severity of crime, prior record, and jail/bail status are direct causes of the probation officer's sentencing recommendation, which alone is a direct cause of the judge's sentencing decision; the other three factors have only indirect effects on the judge's sentencing decision. The myths of sentencing undermined by this model are the myth of the complexity of legal decisions, the myth of individualized justice, the myth that the sentence hearing is a decisionmaking occasion, the myth of disparity in judges' sentencing decisions, and the myth that the judge is the mainstay of the sentencing process. Tabular data and 28 references are provided.