NCJ Number
136740
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1992) Pages: 189-203
Date Published
1992
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Data collected during telephone interviews with 124 Texas criminal court judges, district attorneys, probation officers, and defense attorneys was used to analyze the attitudes of these criminal justice practitioners toward various sentencing issues.
Abstract
The issues cited most often by local criminal justice officials included prison overcrowding, discrepancies between sentences given and actual time served, insufficient time served by repeat and serious offenders, and inconsistent sentences for similar offenses. There was relatively little consensus concerning potential sentencing policies to remedy these perceived problems. The most frequently suggested policy options included developing alternatives to incarceration, building more prisons, and modifying the parole system. The overwhelming majority of respondents did not favor the use of a risk assessment instrument nor the implementation of either mandatory or voluntary sentencing guidelines. 8 figures, 1 note, and 14 references (Author abstract modified)