Focally Concerned About Focal Concerns: A Conceptual and Methodological Critique of Sentencing Disparities Research

Assessing Variations in Juvenile Court Processing in Urban Versus Rural Courts: Revisiting “Justice by Geography”

“…While the present research attempted to capture organizational differences among courts in terms of urbanism and case processing pressures, it may be that there are other organizational factors that require further examination, such as a focus on courtroom workgroups (e.g., Metcalfe, 2016) or court culture, often embedded in the larger political culture (see generally, Nelken, 2010). Lynch (2019, p. 20) argues for “re-inhabiting criminal sentencing research,” mainly through primary data collection aiming to capture the richness of courtroom workgroups in a more “bottom up approach” that examines how discretion operates in a dynamic context with social, legal, and political influences (see also Ulmer, 2019).…”

Financial Dependents and Sentencing Outcomes in Federal District Courts: Variation by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex

“…While the findings of the current study demonstrated that providing support for dependents is generally associated with punishment severity for Black male and Hispanic male defendants, a clear priority of future research would be to invest in interviews with judges as a means of promoting a greater understanding of the underlying reasons for these disparities during sentencing decisions, as well as interviews with prosecutors considering that most criminal convictions occur via guilty plea and that the prosecutor is a central figure in shaping plea bargaining outcomes and sentencing recommendations (Johnson et al, 2016; Lynch, 2019).…”

“…Steffensmeier et al, 1998, p. 768). Despite recent calls that the perspective is lacking theoretical development and rigorous methodological testing (Lynch, 2019; Maddan & Hartley, 2018; Ulmer, 2019), findings from the focal concerns literature largely conclude that male and minority defendants receive harsher sentencing outcomes net of controls, purporting that male and minority defendants are perceived by judges to be the most dangerous and at risk for re-offense. As such the focal concerns of blameworthiness and community protection have been the most commonly cited as reason for these disparate outcomes.…”

Going Off the Grid: Assessing Sentencing Departures for Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses

“…Departures from prescribed sentencing guidelines represent opportunities to deviate from the formally rational sentencing structure, but decisions about when and for whom departures are appropriate are mainly driven by substantively rational considerations (Kramer & Ulmer, 2009). In recent decades, the focal concerns perspective has been used extensively to explain sentencing decisions (Hartley et al, 2007;Lynch, 2019;Steffensmeier et al, 2017). This framework states that judges consider blameworthiness, protection of the community, and practical consequences and constraints when determining the appropriate sentence (Steffensmeier, 1980;Steffensmeier et al, 1993Steffensmeier et al, , 1998Steffensmeier et al, , 2017.…”