NCJ Number
73153
Date Published
1979
Length
220 pages
Annotation
Testimony is provided on research that examined the impact of California's 1976 determinate sentencing law and its amendments.
Abstract
Research progress is described as it relates to the impact of the determinate sentence law on courts, sentencing levels, corrections, and the State legislature. Research shows that the determinate sentencing law has apparently reduced sentence disparity by providing similar sentence lengths for the same offense. The rate of imprisonment, however, has increased since the enactment of the determinate sentencing law, although this trend cannot be conclusively linked to the law itself. Determinate sentencing has provided a more concrete structure for plea bargaining. Where multiple charges are involved, the prosecutor uses his/her discretion to drop some charges to get guilty pleas on main charges, using the law's delineation of sentence lengths for each charge as the framework for decisionmaking. Some impact has been felt in the State legislature, which has spurred sentence-lengthening amendments for specific crimes. The hope is that an increase in sentence length will deter crime. A suggestion is made for creation of a sentence guideline advisory committee to aid the legislature in making statutory sentence length decisions. Incapacitation as an effect of determinate sentencing and a means of reducing crime was examined. Incapacitation was viewed as having the greatest effect when habitual criminals are identified and imprisoned. Some suggestions were offered for identifying such offenders. Discussions between committee members and witnesses are included, and supplementary materials are appended.