58 research outputs found
Illinois Government Research no. 56 1983: Prison Capacity and Sentencing Severity: A Look at Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania
After a brief lull in the late seventies and early eighties, crime
is once again a prime concern among a large number of
Americans. More people are mentioning crime in periodic
surveys of public problems than in the previous decade, and
the 1982 governor's race in California may have been won at
the eleventh hour by a strong law and order appeal. In the
minds of many, criminal punishment is an integral part of the
crime problem and society's efforts to combat it. It is viewed
as both a real and a symbolic deterrent to crime, every bit
as important as a mobile, effective police force. This has led
to a reexamination of sentencing practices and a revision of
sentencing codes, an increase in minimum punishments, and
even new prison construction. Illinois, for example, moved
from an interdeterminate to a determinate sentencing code,
abolished its parole board, and enacted Class X legislation
providing more severe sentences for selected heinous crimes.
More recently it has embarked upon a campaign to increase
its state penal capacity. Indeed, a recent report of the Illinois
Economic and Fiscal Commission shows that the Department
of Corrections received 75 percent of all new capital project
dollars for FY 1983 ??? in excess of $80 million.
Many students of criminal courts have doubted the effectiveness
of these reforms. They note the low visibility of most
sentencing decisions and the vested interest of most criminal
court practitioners in the status quo. Of particular concern
are the long-established "going rates" for routine offenses
on which county plea bargaining practices are based. To
better understand the sentencing process ??? and improve
our chances to reform it ??? we undertook a long-term comparative
study of criminal courts. The focus of the present
essay is on factors that affect sentencing severity. Such
factors are, of course, of special interest to those concerned
with increasing the deterrent effect of sentencing.published or submitted for publicatio
Criminal Courts and Bureaucratic Justice: Concessions and Consensus in the Guilty Plea Process
Criminal Courts and Bureaucratic Justice: Concessions and Consensus in the Guilty Plea Process
International Indices as Models for the Rule of Law Scoreboard of the European Union: Methodological Issues
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