How are sentences for Federal, State, and Local crimes determined in the United States? Is this process fairly and justly applied to all concerned? How have reforms affected the process over the last 25 years? This text for advanced undergraduate students in criminal justice programs throughout North America seeks to answer these questions.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: THE GOALS OF SENTENCING Why Punish? How Much To Punish? Theories of Punishment and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Conclusion CHAPTER TWO: THE SENTENCING PROCESS The Judge's Options at Sentencing Sentencing as a Collaborative Exercise The Sentencing Process CHAPTER 3: HOW DO JUDGES DECIDE? Modeling the Sentencing Process Sentencing and Case Attributes Sentencing and Characteristics of the Judge How do Judges Decide? CHAPTER 4: SENTENCING DISPARITY AND DISCRIMINATION: A FOCUS ON GENDER Types of Sentencing Discrimination Gender Disparity in Sentencing Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing CHAPTER 5: SENTENCING DISPARITY AND DISCRIMINATION: A FOCUS ON RACE/ETHNICITY Racial Disparity in Sentencing Race and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Race and the Death Penalty: A Failed Experiment? Justice From the Bench? CHAPTER 6: THE SENTENCING REFORM MOVEMENT Structured Sentencing Reforms Presumptive Sentencing Guidelines Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes Three-Strikes-and-You're Out Laws Truth in Sentencing Laws Three Decades of Reform CHAPTER 7: THE IMPACT OF SENTENCING REFORMS Have Sentencing Reforms Led to More Punitive Sentences? Have Sentencing Reforms Led to a Reduction in Crime? Have Sentencing Reforms Reduced Disparity and Discrimination? Assessing the Impact of the Sentencing Reform Movement
