NCJ Number
174918
Date Published
1997
Length
221 pages
Annotation
Based on a national sample survey conducted in 1994 through face-to-face interviews with a probability sample of the American populace, the primary purpose of this study was to determine how the American public would sentence persons convicted of crimes under the Federal Criminal Code; these sentences are compared with those recommended in the Federal sentencing guidelines.
Abstract
Each respondent was asked to sentence convicted persons whose crimes and personal characteristics were described in short vignettes. For each of 42 vignettes that described crimes and offenders, respondents gave what they considered to be an appropriate sentence. Twenty general crimes were included in the survey, each represented by several examples. The vignettes were constructed with the use of the factorial survey method, a research design that allowed the use of unusually rich descriptions of offenders. The sentencing alternatives included probation, imprisonment for a fixed period, life imprisonment, and death. In addition to the crime vignettes, a questionnaire was used to collect information on respondents' backgrounds and responses to a number of attitudinal questions related to sentencing preferences. A total of 1,737 interviews were conducted, with an overall response rate of 70 percent. Survey findings show that as a group drug trafficking crimes were given relatively long sentences; persons convicted of trafficking in large amounts of drugs were punished more severely. Drug possession, contrasted with drug trafficking, was viewed as one of the least serious crimes. Street crimes elicited somewhat shorter sentences than drug trafficking, except when victims or bystanders were put at risk, injured, or killed. White-collar crimes, environmental crimes, and hate crimes were given far shorter sentences than drug trafficking and street crimes, except when the safety of persons was threatened. Most of the variation in sentences was a function of the crimes committed, not the background of the defendant. There was little support for sentences consistent with most habitual offender legislation, and sentence length did not increase at the same rate as the economic gains from crime. Major points of disagreement between respondents' sentencing and sentencing guidelines centered around certain types of crimes, with the strongest sentencing disagreements occurring over drug trafficking crimes. Disagreement between guideline and respondent sentences was also found over the weights to be given to some features of crimes. Particularly, respondent sentences did not increase as sharply as guideline sentences when the economic gain increased. The weights given by respondents to offenders' criminal records were similar to the guideline recommendations. Extensive figures and tables and appended dimensions and levels, questionnaire, vignettes, and regression tables for analyses