NCJ Number
119337
Date Published
1989
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This discussion of 1988 State and Federal judicial decisions dealing with sentencing in criminal cases is directed mainly to lawyers and judges and designed to provide an overview of the procedural issues involved.
Abstract
Individual decisions dealt with capital sentences for juveniles, the role of aggravating circumstances in capital sentences, the admissibility of evidence of uncharged crimes committed by the defendant, and the role of the jury at the sentencing phase of a capital trial. Decisions involving noncapital sentences focused on the requirement that sentences be proportionate to the crime, the role of the double jeopardy clause in sentencing following a successful appeal, the ban on probation or suspension of sentences in the Federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, and other aspects of sentences in drug cases. Other decisions addressed the circumstances in which a Federal court can order restitution, the factors to be considered in determining the nature of restitution, credit for time served in jail while awaiting trial, the use of presentence investigations, factual disputes at sentencing, probation conditions, probation revocation, and parole revocation. 306 footnotes.