Sentencing Matters

How do judges sentence? This question is frequently asked but infrequently explored. What factors are taken into account? How do judges see their role? How do they apply the aims and purposes of sentencing? How are factors such as public opinion taken into account? How Judges Sentence explores these questions through interviews with Queensland judges. The judges explain how they come to their decisions when sentencing, how they view judicial discretion, and how they exercise it. The book carefully examines their comments within the legislative and theoretical contexts of sentencing. The analysis yields valuable insights into judicial methodologies, perceptions, and attitudes towards the sentencing process. How Judges Sentence provides a major contribution to debates on sentencing.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Sentencing Matters -- 2. Sentencing Fragments -- 3. Federal Sentencing -- 4. Sentencing Theories -- 5. Sentencing Principles -- 6. Sentencing Futures -- References -- Index.

This title presents a fully developed punishment theory which incorporates both utilitarian and retributive sentencing purposes. The author describes and defends a hybrid sentencing model that integrates theory and practice - blending and balancing both the competing principles of retribution and rehabilitation and the procedural concern of weighing rules against discretion.

A leading text in criminal law, co-authored by leading scholars in the field, Sentencing Law and Policy draws from extensive sources to present a comprehensive overview of all aspects of criminal sentencing. Online integration with sentencing commissions, thorough treatment of current case law, and provocative notes and questions, stimulate students to consider connections between disparate institutions and examine the purposes and politics of the criminal justice system. The Third Edition has been updated to include recent developments in sentencing case law and provocative discussions of policy debates across a wide range of topics, including discretion in sentencing, race, death penalty abolition, state sentencing guidelines, second-look policies, the impact of new technologies, drug courts and much more. Features: Authors are among the leading sentencing scholars in the United States. Demleitner and Berman are editors of the leading sentencing journal, Federal Sentencing Reporter. Berman is the blog master of the leading sentencing blog, with huge readership. Intuitive organization tracks the process that occurs in every criminal sentencing. Each chapter draws on the most relevant examples from three distinct sentencing worlds: guideline-determinate, indeterminate, and capital. Wide-ranging source materials, including: U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Cases from state high courts, federal appellate courts, and foreign jurisdictions. Statutes and guidelines provisions. Reports and data from sentencing commissions and other agencies. Problems and questions in text are integrated with websites of sentencing commissions, such as the site for the U.S. Sentencing Commissions (www.ussc.gov). Challenging questions ask students to compare institutions and consider the connections between specific sentencing rules and the purposes and politics of criminal justice, emphasizing the effects of sentencing. Notes tell students directly what are the most common practices in U.S. jurisdictions. Instructorsand’ website (www.sentencingbook.net) provides the Teacherand’s Manualand—available only electronically on the siteand— with additional teaching materials to be posted as needed. Studentsand’ website (www.sentencingbook.com) features longer collections of rules and guidelines, statutes, case studies, recent articles, practice problems, sample exams, and a virtual library. Thoroughly updated, the revised Third Edition includes: New Supreme Court cases, including Gall, Kimbrough, Padilla (6th Amendment), and Kennedy (child rape sentencing limits). Policy debates over mass incarceration, the relevance of the budget crisis, and the state-level variation in deincarceration. Shifting authority among key actors in the crack penalty/crack reform debate, including the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA). Expanded core study of discretion in sentencing and attention to race in sentencing, with a close study of the North Carolina Racial Justice Act and the emergence of and“racial impact statementsand” about existing systems and proposed legislation ina number of states. Death penalty abolition. Developments in state sentencing guidelines, noting stand-still in new states, and the relevance of the ALI MPC project. Emergence of and“second lookand” policy discussions, the troubled debate over the theory, operation and impact of parole systems, and the and“supervised releaseand” that has come to replace traditional parole. Discussion of new technologies, developm

Public outcries and political platforms based on misinformation and misconceptions about the criminal justice system and current sentencing practice occur all too often in democratic societies. Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy attempts to address this problem by bringing together important contributions from a number of distinguished experts in the field. Penal Populism presents theoretical perspectives on the role of the public in the development of sentencing policy. It places particular emphasis on the emerging role of sentencing commissions, advisory councils or panels in a number of English speaking countries: Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Scotland and South Africa. The book explains, expands and develops the existing literature that looks at public attitudes to justice and the role that the 'public' can play in influencing policy. Written in a scholarly yet accessible style, Penal Populism asks the critical questions: should 'public opinion', or preferably, 'public judgment' be relevant to court decision-making, to institutional decision-making and to the political process? And if so, how?