NCJ Number
95821
Date Published
1984
Length
210 pages
Annotation
The American experience in developing and implementing sentencing guidelines is looked at in terms of Swedish criminal policy.
Abstract
The report analyzes American discussions about principles underlying sentencing guidelines and provides an overview of reforms within States. The second part of the report considers the American models for regulating the sentencing choice and for determining the sentence length. A significant change in American sentencing policy during the last 15 years is observed, due to a weakening of the belief that offenders can be rehabilitated and an increasing interest in cutting corrections costs and deterring offenders through sentences tailored to crime seriousness. Models of sentencing guidelines used for analysis in this report include those from Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, as well as the Federal system, six semiofficial codes (including the Model Penal Code), and three private codes. The analysis also considers the principles underlying the sentence choice, the principles for sentencing guidelines, and the regulations guiding sentence choice. For sentence length, it considers the basic models, modifications for certain circumstances surrounding the crime, the sentence-length ranges available, and the combinations of choices that can be selected. A final chapter, using Minnesota's experience as a reference, discusses applications to Sweden's criminal policy. A total of 214 references are provided.