NCJ Number
209816
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2005 Pages: 167-171
Date Published
May 2005
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This Swiss research tested a hypothesis proposed in 1977 by British researchers Ken Pease and Margaret Sampson, i.e., that the length of a sentence can be modified by changing the sentencing unit.
Abstract
The current study sought to remedy the methodological bias contained in Pease and Sampson's original study. The Swiss study drew upon actual cases to create four scenarios that contained all the information necessary to impose a sentence. In May 2000, the scenarios were presented via a written questionnaire to four samples of judges (four experimental conditions); the first group of judges gave sentences in days, the second in weeks, the third in months, and the fourth in years. To avoid the methodological weaknesses of the British study, the samples were restricted to penal judges, and the samples were sufficiently large to obtain significant results. The questionnaire was used with a representative sample of 654 Swiss judges (approximately 160 questionnaires for each of the 4 groups). A total of 290 valid questionnaires were obtained for the study. This study confirmed the results of the British study in finding that the longer the time unit used in the sentence, the greater the likelihood that a longer sentence would be imposed. Possible explanations for this finding are posed. 5 notes and 3 references