Read complete books and articles on: Criminal Sentencing

Sentence - in criminal law, punishment that a court orders, imposed on a person convicted of criminal activity. Sentences typically consist of fines, corporal punishment, imprisonment for varying periods including life, or capital punishment, and sometimes combine two or more elements. In the United States, the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution bans "cruel and unusual punishments" (effectively excluding corporal punishment), and exile and forfeiture of property by heirs are not imposed. Especially in punishing misdemeanors, payment of a fine may be the alternative to a prison sentence.

The sentence to be imposed is generally fixed by statute. In some cases (mandatory sentencing) the duration is exactly prescribed; in others the judge (and in some instances, the jury) has limited discretion. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that courts in sentencing may, and sometimes must, consider not only the crimes for which a defendant was convicted, but also other charges, even if they led to acquittal. The Court has also ruled that only a jury may impose a sentence beyond the range specified in law for a crime. If a person is convicted of more than one crime at a single trial, the sentences may run concurrently (i.e., all beginning at the same time) or consecutively. In indeterminate sentencing, a minimum and maximum term is set, and good behavior may allow a convict to be released on parole any time after the minimum term has been served. In many states successive convictions on felony charges bring longer sentences, and in the 1980s some U.S. states and the federal government began to impose "three strikes" and similar laws, ordering mandatory long-term or life imprisonment for repeated felony offenses. Such laws have been criticized for sometimes requiring long sentences for nonviolent offenders whose crimes may include petty theft or drug possession. Persons found incapable of understanding the nature of their crimes or of helping in their defense are often committed to mental institutions for periods that are to end if they recover sanity; these are effectively, if not technically, sentences. See also verdict, jury, and pardon.

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Criminal Sentencing

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Fundamentals of Sentencing Theory: Essays in Honour of Andrew von Hirsch » Read Now
by Andrew Ashworth, Martin Wasik, Andrew Von Hirsch. 300 pgs.

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The Oxford Monographs On Criminal Law And Justice series aims to cover all aspects of criminal law and procedure including criminal evidence. the scope of the series is wide, encompassing both practical and theoretical works. Series Editor: Professor Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English...
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The Oxford Monographs On Criminal Law And Justice series aims to cover all aspects of criminal law and procedure including criminal evidence. the scope of the series is wide, encompassing both practical and theoretical works. Series Editor: Professor Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law, All Souls College, Oxford. This volume is a thematic collection of essays on sentencing theory by leading writers. The essays fall into three groups. Part I considers the underlying justifications for the imposition of punishment by the State, and examines the relationship between victims, offenders and the State. Part II addresses a number of areas of sentencing policy that have given rise to particular difficulty, such as the sentencing of drug offenders, the rationale for discounting sentences for multiple offenders, the existence of special sentencing for young offenders, and cases where the injury done to the victim is of a different magnitude from what might have been expected. Part III raises various questions about the unequal impact on offenders of different sentencing measures, and examines the extent to which sentences should be adjusted to take account of these different impacts and of broader social inequalities. This volume is dedicated to Professor Andrew von Hirsch, whose continuing work on sentencing theory provided the stimulus for the collection.
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2.

Sentencing Matters » Read Now
by Michael Tonry. 222 pgs.

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Michael Tonry offers a comprehensive overview of research, policy developments, and practical experience concerning sentencing and sanctions. He considers what we know about the effects of innovations of the past twenty years on sentencing disparities, and what directions policy should move in the next twenty years.
3.

Punishment, Communication and Community (Chap. 4 "Communicative Sentencing") » Read Now
by R. A. Duff. 245 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

The question "What can justify criminal punishment ?" becomes especially insistent at times, like our own, of penal crisis, when serious doubts are raised not only about the justice or efficacy of particular modes of punishment, but about the very legitimacy of the whole penal system. Recent...
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The question "What can justify criminal punishment ?" becomes especially insistent at times, like our own, of penal crisis, when serious doubts are raised not only about the justice or efficacy of particular modes of punishment, but about the very legitimacy of the whole penal system. Recent theorizing about punishment offers a variety of answers to that question-answers that try to make plausible sense of the idea that punishment is justified as being deserved for past crimes; answers that try to identify some beneficial consequences in terms of which punishment might be justified; as well as abolitionist answers telling us that we should seek to abolish, rather than to justify, criminal punishment. This book begins with a critical survey of recent trends in penal theory, but goes on to develop an original account (based on Duff's earlier Trials and Punishments) of criminal punishment as a mode of moral communication, aimed at inducing repentance, reform, and reconciliation through reparation-an account that undercuts the traditional controversies between consequentialist and retributivist penal theories, and that shows how abolitionist concerns can properly be met by a system of communicative punishments. In developing this account, Duff articulates the "liberal communitarian" conception of political society (and of the role of the criminal law) on which it depends; he discusses the meaning and role of different modes of punishment, showing how they can constitute appropriate modes of moral communication between political community and its citizens; and he identifies the essential preconditions for the justice of punishment as thus conceived-preconditions whose non-satisfaction makes our own system of criminal punishment morally problematic. Punishment, Communication, and Community offers no easy answers, but provides a rich and ambitious ideal of what criminal punishment could be-an ideal of what criminal punishment cold be-and ideal that challenges existing penal theories as well as our existing penal theories as well as our existing penal practices.
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4.

Penal Reform in Overcrowded Times » Read Now
by Michael Tonry. 278 pgs.

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This volume brings together a collection of articles on penal reform in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other English-speaking countries. Unique and wide-ranging, the volume provides material on penal policy development and research and presents an international, comparative focus. Written by...
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This volume brings together a collection of articles on penal reform in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other English-speaking countries. Unique and wide-ranging, the volume provides material on penal policy development and research and presents an international, comparative focus. Written by leading national and international authorities, it offers some of the broadest efforts to characterize recent penal trends and to analyze their causes and consequences.
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5.

Sentencing Lessons, in Stanford Law Review » Read Now
by Marc L. Miller, Robert Weisberg. 37 pgs.

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6.

Sentencing and the Fifth Amendment, in Yale Law Journal » Read Now
by David B. Lat. 9 pgs.

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...applies at sentencing in noncapital...conviction "criminality ceases; and...defendants criminal history into account at sentencing.(26) The sentencing...states, the...
7.

Women and Men Policymakers: Does the Judge's Gender Affect the Sentencing of Criminal Defendants?, in Social Forces » Read Now
by Darrell Steffensmeier, Chris Hebert. 34 pgs.

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...Judges Gender Affect the Sentencing of Criminal Defendants? DARRELL...makes a difference in the sentencing of criminal defendants. Judicial decision-making...policymaking...
8.

The Sentencing Decisions of Black and White Judges: Expected and Unexpected Similarities, in Law & Society Review » Read Now
by Cassia Spohn. 20 pgs.

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...1981-82 ), disparity in sentencing says nothing about...other stages in the criminal justice process...Discrimination in Criminal Sentencing," 46 American...
9.

The Case for Jury Sentencing, in Duke Law Journal » Read Now
by Morris B. Hoffman. 59 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
10.

The Handbook of Crime & Punishment (Chap. 20 "Sentencing") » Read Now
by Michael Tonry. 818 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Crime is one of the most significant political issues in contemporary American society. Crime control statistics and punishment policies are subjects of constant partisan debate, while the media presents sensationalized stories of criminal activity and over-crowded prisons. In the highly politicized...
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Crime is one of the most significant political issues in contemporary American society. Crime control statistics and punishment policies are subjects of constant partisan debate, while the media presents sensationalized stories of criminal activity and over-crowded prisons. In the highly politicized arena of crime and justice, empirical data and reasoned analysis are often overlook or ignored. The Handbook of Crime and Punishment, however, provides a comprehensive overview of criminal justice, criminology, and crime control policy, thus enabling a fundamental understanding of crime and punishment essential to an informed public. Expansive in its coverage, the Handbook presents materials on crime and punishment trends as well as timely policy issues. The latest research on the demography of crime (race, gender, drug use) is included and weighty current problems (organized crime, white collar crime, family violence, sex offenders, youth gangs, drug abuse policy) are examined. Processes and institutions that deal with accused and convicted criminals and techniques of punishment are also examined. While some articles emphasize American research findings and developments, others incorporate international research and offer a comparative perspective from other English-speaking countries and Western Europe. Editor Michael Tonry, a leading scholar of criminology, introduces the 28 articles in the volume, each contributed by an expert in the field. Designed for a wide audience, The Handbook is encyclopedic in its range and depth of content, yet is written in an accessible style. The most inclusive and authoritative work on the topic to be found in one volume, this book will appeal to those interested in the study of crime and its causes, effects, trends, and institutions; those interested in the forms and philosophies of punishment; and those interested in crime control.
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11.

Persistent Offender Law: Racial Disparity, Patterned Offenses, and Unintended Effects (Chap. 1 "Crime Control through Sentencing Severity") » Read Now
by Nancy Rodriguez. 144 pgs.

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12.

Penal Populism and Public Opinion: Lessons from Five Countries (Chap. 1 "Penal Populism in Context") » Read Now
by Mike Hough, David Indermaur, Julian V. Roberts, Loretta J. Stalans. 244 pgs.

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Although criminal justice systems vary greatly around the world, one theme has emerged in all western jurisdictions in recent years: a rise in both the rhetoric and practice of severe punishment at a time when public opinion has played a pivotal role in sentencing policy and reforms. Despite the...
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Although criminal justice systems vary greatly around the world, one theme has emerged in all western jurisdictions in recent years: a rise in both the rhetoric and practice of severe punishment at a time when public opinion has played a pivotal role in sentencing policy and reforms. Despite the differences among jurisdictions, startling commonalities exist among the five countries-the U.K., USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--surveyed here. Drawing on the results of representative opinion surveys and other research tools the authors map public attitudes towards crime and punishment across countries and explore the congruence between public views and actual policies. Co-authored by four distinguished sentencing policy experts, Penal Populism and Public Opinion is a clarion call for limiting the influence of penal populism and instituting more informed, research- based sentencing policies across the western world.
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13.

Sentencing and Sanctions in Western Countries » Read Now
by Richard S. Frase, Michael Tonry. 440 pgs.

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This collection of original essays surveys the evolution of sentencing policies and practices in Western countries over the past twenty-five years. Contributors address plea-bargaining, community service, electronic monitoring, standards of use of incarceration, and legal perspectives on sentencing...
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This collection of original essays surveys the evolution of sentencing policies and practices in Western countries over the past twenty-five years. Contributors address plea-bargaining, community service, electronic monitoring, standards of use of incarceration, and legal perspectives on sentencing policy developments, among other topics. Sentencing and Sanctions in Western Countries provides a range of scholars and students excellent cross-national knowledge of sentencing laws and practices, when and why they have changed over time, and with what effects.
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14.

Thou Shalt Not Kill Any Nice People: The Problem of Victim Impact Statements in Capital Sentencing, in American Criminal Law Review » Read Now
by Amy K. Phillips. 19 pgs.

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...IMPROPER FACTORS IN SENTENCING The Anglo-American criminal justice system...sentencing because criminal sentencing, and even capital...testimony from capital sentencing...
15.

A Look at the Use of Acquitted Conduct in Sentencing, in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology » Read Now
by Erica K. Beutler. 36 pgs.

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...determine the defendants "criminal history category."(34) The Sentencing Table is a matrix with...Benjamin E. Rosenberg, Criminal Acts and Sentencing Facts: Two...
16.

Reducing Unjustified Sentencing Disparity, in Yale Law Journal » Read Now
by James A. McLaughlin. 6 pgs.

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...because the range of potential criminal conduct is simply too great...departure authority in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984.(26) The...of responsibility. See U.S...