Compliance With Sentencing Guidelines - The Decision Whether To Incarcerate (From Corrections at the Crossroads - Designing Policy, P 85-108, 1981, Sherwood E Zimmerman and Harold D Miller, eds. - See NCJ-85837)

• NCJ Number: 85840
• Author(s): W D Rich; L P Sutton
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 78-NI-AX-0140
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study presents a sample method for evaluating compliance with sentencing guidelines using data routinely collected by the courts and provides data and preliminary findings on compliance to sentencing guidelines in Denver, Colo.

Abstract

The data analyzed consisted of those collected for all 506 cases in which a sentence was imposed in the Denver District Court during the 11 months immediately following the implementation of sentencing guidelines in November 1976. Judicial compliance with and deviation from the sentencing guidelines were examined using crosstabulation analysis. Descriptive statistics reported were (1) the percentage of cases in which the guideline sentence (probation or incarceration) and the sentence actually imposed were the same, (2) the number of cases in which the guideline sentence was incarceration but the actual sentence was probation, and (3) the number of cases in which the guideline sentence was probation but a sentence of incarceration was imposed. The Denver sentencing guidelines were designed to predict 80 percent of the judges' sentencing decisions. The study data showed that the decision about whether to incarcerate conformed to the guideline sentence in about 80 percent of the cases. It is unclear whether this compliance rate is wholly attributable to the predictive power of the guidelines or partly attributable to judicial conformity. Graphic and tabular data are provided along with 10 notes.