NCJ Number
96906
Date Published
Unknown
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report analyzes judicial sentencing practices in Maryland's Baltimore City and Harford, Prince George's, and Montgomery Counties. It focuses on judges' decisions to incarcerate and on their determinations of sentence length.
Abstract
Data were obtained from the Maryland Sentencing Guidelines Project and reflect three groups of cases where there were convictions: a sample of single-count, preguidelines convictions for which presentence investigations (PSI's), were available; a sample of single-count convictions with PSI's; and a group of single count, guidelines convictions for which sentences were determined with and without the use of PSI's. Findings reveal that the proportion of individuals in the four subdivisions who received sentences of incarceration after implementation of the guidelines did not differ significantly from the proportion incarcerated before the guidelines. There was no appreciable difference in the overall distribution of sentence lengths before and after guidelines. Proportionally, fewer individuals received probation sentences than received sentences to incarceration; judges in Montgomery County and Baltimore City sentenced proportionally fewer individuals to incarceration than did judges in the other jurisdictions. Additionally, offenders who were sentenced for crimes against persons were more likely to receive long prison sentences than were offenders who committed other types of crimes. Finally, individuals incarcerated in Montgomery County received shorter sentences than those incarcerated in the other jurisdictions. Additional research is urged to determine why this sentencing disparity exists. Six appendixes and 21 tables are included.