NCJ Number
112552
Date Published
1988
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This study examines results of changes in the criminal sentencing philosophy in Washington from a rehabilitative to a presumptive sentencing 'just deserts' model under the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 1981.
Abstract
The SRA defined certain crimes as violent and established a sentencing structure that emphasized Uniform sentences for similar crimes. Nonviolent offenders were diverted to community resources and violent offenders were incarcerated in prison. The study focused on how much the violent offender prison population would increase under the SRA. Demographics, personal and prison histories, infractive behavior and prison program participation of incarcerated violent and nonviolent offenders were compared and analyzed. Findings indicate that during the two years of data gathering there was an 8 percent increase in male violent offenders, bringing that population to 60 percent of the total prison population. Results also indicate that male and female violent offenders were more apt than nonviolent offenders to commit one or more infractions a year; a higher proportion of violent offenders were black; and there was no difference in the proportion of violent offenders among racial groups within the female population. Tabular data. 21 references.