NCJ Number
104344
Date Published
1987
Length
113 pages
Annotation
This monograph surveys the evaluation literature on the impact of sentencing changes in the United States over the last decade, noting that a more or less uniform American sentencing system has been replaced with a variety of systems.
Abstract
The following approaches to sentencing reform are addressed: pleas bargaining bans and rules, mandatory sentencing laws, voluntary sentencing guidelines, the sentencing commission, statutory determinate sentencing, and parole guidelines. An introductory chapter discusses the origins of sentencing reform and methodological limitations of the impact evaluation literature. Overall, research evidence shows that mandatory sentencing laws increase proportions of convicted offenders that are imprisoned, but tend to elicit widespread efforts by judges and lawyers to circumvent their execution. Voluntary sentencing guidelines generally have not altered sentencing patterns, whereas both presumptive sentencing guidelines and statutory determinate sentencing laws can achieve substantial changes and increase sentencing consistency. Parole guidelines can achieve relatively high levels of accuracy, consistency, and accountability in decisionmaking and can offset disparities in prison sentences imposed by judges. Tables, glossary, and over 80 references.