Determinate Sentencing and the High Cost of Overblown Rhetoric: The New York Experience

With the advent of the national movement for determinate sentencing in the 1970s and the development of sentencing guidelines, a century of sentencing stability in the United States came to an end. This article argues that the determinate model is theoretically flawed. Using data from New York State\u27s sentencing guidelines committee, the article examines the negative consequences of casting complex public policies in vague generalizations. The weakness of the determinate model is discussed in three aspects of guideline development: discretion and departure policy, good time and prison guard power, and rehabilitation and sentence review. © 1994, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved

New Sentencing Laws Follow Old Patterns: A Florida Case Study

This article traces the origins and potential impacts of two sentencing laws passed in 1997 by the Florida Legislature. The Criminal Punishment Code abandoned statewide structured sentencing and increased opportunities for racial and geographic disparity. The Prisoner Release Reoffender Punishment Act mandated long statutory maximum sentences for repeat offenders in reaction to appellate court rulings that more punitive gain time provisions could not be retroactively applied. Both laws continued a long-standing pattern of unsystematic, yet continual, tinkering with sentencing and correctional policy. The article places the Florida case in the context of the national movement for determinate sentencing and discusses areas for further research. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Early-Release Policies In Florida And New York: Comparing Determinate And Indeterminate Sentencing Systems

The theoretical shortcomings of indeterminate sentencing have been well documented, but less attention has been paid to the theoretical flaws of determinate sentencing. If both sentencing models are premised on faulty theory, is either preferable in practice? This essay examines this question from the perspective of one of the most pressing issues facing policymakers today: limiting the growth of prison populations. Using data from Florida, a determinate sentencing state, and New York, an indeterminate sentencing state, the essay discusses the political and economic issues underlying the growth of prison and parole officials\u27 sentencing discretion. © 1995, Sage Publications. All rights reserved

Criminal Sentencing In Florida: Determinate Sentencing\u27S Hollow Shell

This study examines the destabilization of determinate sentencing in Florida. In retaining the form but rejecting the substance of the determinate sentencing model, Florida\u27s punishment policy is today an unwieldy mix of the worst features of the indeterminate and the determinate ideologies. The discussion places recent policy changes, including the authorization of extraordinarily wide sentencing ranges and the abolition of appellate review, in the context of Florida\u27s two-decade odyssey with determinate sentencing. The article is based on interviews with policymakers and practitioners, along with a variety of official and unofficial documents. The potential ramifications of other states following Florida \u27s lead are enormous and deserve scrutiny. © 1999 Sage Publications, Inc

Determinate Sentencing And Agenda Building: A Case Study Of The Failure Of A Reform

This essay uses an agenda-building model to examine the failure of the movement for determinate sentencing in New York State. Proposals to abolish parole and adopt fixed sentences initially appealed to a wide spectrum of New York policymakers and practitioners, as well as to the New York media. Yet, after more than a decade of flirtation with determinacy, former proponents became opponents when the vague concepts inherent in the determinate model were reduced to a concrete proposal put forward by a sentencing guidelines committee. Data sources include reports of seven blue-ribbon commissions, transcripts from public hearings, editorial coverage by two opposing New York City newspapers, and in-depth interviews with influential policymakers. © 1995