Sentencing Policy

Criminology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres F. Rengifo

Sentencing policies govern the administration of legal sanctions for individuals convicted of a criminal offense. As such, these policies shape a vast array of institutional processes ranging from the likelihood, nature, and duration of imprisonment, to release decisions and the conditions of post-incarceration supervision. Starting in the mid 1970s the US approach to sentencing moved away from a relatively uniform set of indeterminate state systems focused on individualized, case-specific decisions to a more fragmented set of determinate systems emphasizing structured decision making and reduced discretion for legal actors. This change also implies a greater emphasis on retributive ideologies in contrast to more traditional rehabilitation-centered approaches. This framework has been progressively developed through a number of state and federal sentencing policies—including, for example, repeat-offender statuses, sentencing enhancements and mandatory minimums, truth-in-sentencing statuses, and drug laws. In most cases these initiatives have been implemented through legislative action, although in recent years other government entities (such as sentencing commissions) have had more influence in the development of these policies. A rich tradition of socio-legal studies has explored the linkages between sentencing and the role, justification, and functions of legal punishments in society. Research has also highlighted a number of social covariates of sentencing policies—such as more conservative political ideologies and more intense partisan politics, as well as greater levels of economic resources—that have been linked to more punitive approaches and higher incarceration rates. Studies have also explored case- and jurisdiction-level disparities in sentencing outcomes and processes related to attributes of defendants (notably race and gender). An emerging body of works has begun to document the specific impact of sentencing policies on offenders and on the criminal justice system as a whole. These works are particularly relevant to understanding the context and impact of mass incarceration for prisoners, communities, and government agencies.

Author(s):  
Ben Tran

To consider modern Vietnamese literature and its politics through questions of gender and sexuality is to challenge Vietnamese Marxist criticism that was made orthodox and inflexible by the machinations of state power and partisan politics. This book has aimed to contribute to this reassessment with its primary arguments: that the post-mandarin engagement with and representation of colonial sex and gender fostered an inclusive field of cultural representation and, more broadly speaking, a democratic national culture from which Vietnamese Marxism emerged. Vietnam’s anticolonial national movement during the twentieth century was not the singular Marxism narrated and codified by the state but was rather conditioned and formed in conjunction with modernity’s sociohistorical transformations, various political ideologies, and, most pertinent here, an aesthetic modernity attending to questions of gender and sexuality.


Crisis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Rodi ◽  
Lucas Godoy Garraza ◽  
Christine Walrath ◽  
Robert L. Stephens ◽  
D. Susanne Condron ◽  
...  

Background: In order to better understand the posttraining suicide prevention behavior of gatekeeper trainees, the present article examines the referral and service receipt patterns among gatekeeper-identified youths. Methods: Data for this study were drawn from 26 Garrett Lee Smith grantees funded between October 2005 and October 2009 who submitted data about the number, characteristics, and service access of identified youths. Results: The demographic characteristics of identified youths are not related to referral type or receipt. Furthermore, referral setting does not seem to be predictive of the type of referral. Demographic as well as other (nonrisk) characteristics of the youths are not key variables in determining identification or service receipt. Limitations: These data are not necessarily representative of all youths identified by gatekeepers represented in the dataset. The prevalence of risk among all members of the communities from which these data are drawn is unknown. Furthermore, these data likely disproportionately represent gatekeepers associated with systems that effectively track gatekeepers and youths. Conclusions: Gatekeepers appear to be identifying youth across settings, and those youths are being referred for services without regard for race and gender or the settings in which they are identified. Furthermore, youths that may be at highest risk may be more likely to receive those services.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana J. Ferradas ◽  
G. Nicole Rider ◽  
Johanna D. Williams ◽  
Brittany J. Dancy ◽  
Lauren R. Mcghee

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isis H. Settles ◽  
William A. Jellison ◽  
Joan R. Poulsen

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah C. Narendorf ◽  
Michelle R. Munson ◽  
Shelly Ben-David ◽  
Andrea R. Cole ◽  
Lionel D. Scott

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