NCJ Number
149598
Date Published
1994
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This report indicates that marked differences exist between individual district criminal court judges in New South Wales in terms of their readiness to imprison convicted offenders.
Abstract
The general strategy to assess sentencing disparity involved matching cases on sentence-relevant case characteristics, such as plea and offense type, that could influence the process by which cases were assigned to particular judges. A group of judges was identified who had each sentenced at least 100 offenders on a guilty plea over the 1988-1992 period. The percentage of offenders imprisoned was then calculated for each judge. Results of these calculations were used to identify five judges who appeared to sentence an unusually small number of offenders to prison and five judges who appeared to sentence an unusually large number of offenders to prison. The largest sentencing disparity was found for assault, while the smallest disparity involved robbery. A relatively high absconding rate was observed for offenders sentenced by judges who imposed more prison sentences. The impact of sentencing disparity on court procedures and administration is discussed. 21 notes, 6 tables, and 4 figures