The Limits of Federal Criminal Sentencing Policy; or, Confessions of Two Reformed Reformers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Parker ◽  
Michael K. Block
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Sentencing Policy

scholarly journals Discreet Discretion and Moderate Moderation in Judicial Sentencing: A commentary on Kenya’s Sentencing Policy Guidelines, 2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-112
Author(s):  
Harrison O Mbori
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Sentencing Guidelines ◽  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Sentencing Policy

Criminal sentencing is an integral part in any judicial system for the fair administration of justice. The process of sentencing and the standards applied by judicial officers has, however, been a notoriously difficult component in many criminal law systems. In Kenya, sentencing has been blamed as one of the sources of ‘popular dissatisfaction with the administration of justice’ to borrow from Roscoe Pound. This was the impetus for the Kenyan Judiciary to introduce the Sentencing Policy Guidelines, 2016 (SPGs). This paper is a general commentary, critique, and analysis of the SPGs. The author argues that SPGs come at an instructive epoch in Kenya’s economic, socio-political, and cultural development. This contribution is not a polemic on the Kenyan SPGs. The commentary makes sideglances to various jurisdictions that have had a longer experience with sentencing guidelines. The article forecasts that Kenyan SPGs will, despite its few shortcomings, nevertheless, prove to be important for all judicial officers involved in Kenya’s criminal justice system.

Improving Judicial Administration Through Implementation of an Automated Sentencing Guidelines System

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 489-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle P. Fox ◽  
Hisashi Yamagata ◽  
Stacy S. Najaka ◽  
David A. Soulé
Keyword(s):  
Public Trust ◽  
Sentencing Guidelines ◽  
Organizational Capital ◽  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Local Circuit ◽  
Circuit Court ◽  
State Commission ◽  
Judicial Administration ◽  
Sentencing Policy

To ensure public trust and confidence, courts must routinely examine the management of their operations and continuously explore improvement opportunities. Although technology can be a catalyst for improving judicial administration, without the requisite planning, organizational capital (e.g., people, process, and system alignment), and evaluation it is unlikely that such initiatives will be sustained let alone succeed. In 2012, a local circuit court in Maryland implemented the Maryland Automated Guidelines System (MAGS) developed by the Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy to electronically initiate, complete, and submit sentencing guidelines worksheets. This study discusses the evaluation of MAGS implementation, highlighting the value of technology and monitoring as a means to enhance judicial administration.

Prison Overcrowding: The Law's Dilemma

1985 ◽  
Vol 478 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
EDWARD M. KENNEDY
Keyword(s):  
Crime Control ◽  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Sentencing Reform ◽  
Selective Incapacitation ◽  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
Dangerous Offenders ◽  
Sentencing Policy ◽  
Intractable Problem ◽  
Federal Judges ◽  
Mandatory Sentencing

The author focuses on the importance of criminal sentencing policy to prison overcrowding and advocates comprehensive sentencing reform that emphasizes selective incapacitation of dangerous offenders as a sensible approach to conserving scarce prison resources. The author is the chief sponsor of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which was recently enacted as part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The Sentencing Reform Act, which embodies the most comprehensive reform of criminal sentencing ever undertaken by Congress, establishes an independent United States Sentencing Commission to establish a uniform sentencing policy and mandatory sentencing guidelines to be used by federal judges. The act abolishes early release on parole, cautions the Sentencing Commission to develop guidelines that minimize prison overcrowding, and emphasizes use of incarceration for dangerous, violent repeat offenders. The use of uniform sentences and selective incapacitation provided for in the new law offers a constructive approach to the intractable problem of prison overcrowding.

The Impact of Gender-Based Family Roles on Criminal Sentencing

1991 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayle S. Bickle ◽  
Ruth D. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Family Roles ◽  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Impact

Legislating Against Hate Crime in New Zealand: The Need to Recognise Gender-Based Violence

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Brown
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
Criminal Sentencing ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based

Section 9(1)(h) of the Sentencing Act 2002 provides that hate crime is to be taken into account as an aggravating factor when sentencing. Yet gender is excluded from the listed grounds of hostility. This article critically examines the exclusion of gender-based hate crime in New Zealand in relation to criminal sentencing. It advocates that there is a need to recognise such hate crime and proposes a reformulated section 9(1)(h) to achieve this.

Do Standards of Review Matter? The Case of Federal Criminal Sentencing

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua B. Fischman ◽  
Max M. Schanzenbach
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Sentencing

VICTIM EMANCIPATION THROUGH COMPENSATION: A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SECTION 357 OF CRPC

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaveta Gagneja
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Sentencing Policy ◽  
Victims Of Crime

One area which is totally overlooked is the plight of the victims. It is a recent trend in the sentencing policy to listen to the wailings of the victims. Rehabilitation of the prisoner need not be by closing the eyes towards the suffering victims of the offence. A glimpse at the field of victimology reveals two types of victims. The first type consists of direct victims, i.e. those who are alive and suffering on account of harm inflicted by the prisoner while committing the crime. The second type comprises of indirect victims who are dependant of the direct victims of crime who undergo suffering due to deprivation of their bread winner.

Establishing New Foundations and Structures for Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Moral Diversity ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Sentencing Policy ◽  
Government Reforms ◽  
Recent Government

This chapter considers the case for recasting the moral values that inform sentencing and the policy implications of such a fundamental change of approach. It suggests that prospects for promoting social justice through sentencing continue to be constrained by existing penal values, with procedural justice, communication systems, and decision-making evaluated against this governance framework. The chapter argues for new foundational principles and explores how such a moral transition might be effected through structural reforms to domestic sentencing. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties of recasting values and structures to reflect sentencing’s changed role as a tool for engaging with social justice issues. The chapter examines specific areas of policy change within England and Wales and the problem of moving from theory to practice through the analysis of recent government reforms, highlighting how sentencing policy and practice might respond more effectively to changes in social values and moral diversity.

Bridging the Gap between Political and Penal Legitimacy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Value ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Social Morality ◽  
Penal Policy ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Sentencing Policy ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter argues that the relationship between penal policy and the political economy provides important insights into the political and institutional reforms required to minimize harsh and discriminatory penal policies. However, the capacity of sentencing policy to engage with this social reality in a meaningful way necessitates a recasting of penal ideology. To realize this objective requires a profound understanding of sentencing’s social value and significance for citizens. The greatest challenge then lies in establishing coherent links between penal ideology and practice to encourage forms of sentencing that are sensitive to changes in social value. The chapter concludes by explaining how the present approach taken by the courts of England and Wales to the sentencing of women exacerbates social exclusion and reinforces existing divisions in social morality. It urges fundamental changes in ideology and practice so that policy reflects a socially valued rationale for the criminalization and punishment of women.

Sentencing Policy as a Force for Social Cohesion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Henham
Keyword(s):  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sentencing Policy

This chapter sets out the case for adopting a normative approach to conceptualizing the social reality of sentencing. It argues that policy-makers need to comprehend how sentencing is implicated in realizing state values and take greater account of the social forces that diminish the moral credibility of state sponsored punishment. The chapter reflects on the problems of relating social values to legal processes such as sentencing and argues that crude notions of ‘top down’ or ‘bottom up’ approaches to policy-making should be replaced by a process of contextualized policy-making. Finally, the chapter stresses the need for sentencing policy to reflect those moral attachments that bind citizens together in a relational or communitarian sense. It concludes by exploring these assertions in the light of the sentencing approach taken by the courts following the English riots of 2011.

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