The Federal Guidelines and the Underlying Purposes of Sentencing

Feinberg, Kenneth R.

doi:10.2307/20639370

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Offense severity is widely recognized as a key predictor of sentence outcomes (Feinberg, 1990; Kramer & Ulmer, 2009; O’Hear, 2005). According to the principle of proportionality in punishment, the severity of a sanction should increase according to the degree of offense severity.…”

Section: Prior Research On Sentence Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time for Time: Uncovering Case Processing Duration as a Source of Punitiveness

Liu

Dunlea

Kutateladze

2021

Crime & Delinquency

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The literature on sentencing has devoted ample consideration to how prosecutors and judges incorporate priorities such as retribution and public safety into their decision making, typically using legal and extralegal characteristics as analytic proxies. In contrast, the role of case processing efficiency in determining punishment outcomes has garnered little attention. Using recent data from a large Florida jurisdiction, we examine the influence of case screening and disposition timeliness on sentence outcomes in felony cases. We find that lengthier case processing time is highly and positively associated with punitive outcomes at sentencing. The more time prosecutors spend on a case post-filing, the more likely defendants are to receive custodial sentences and longer sentences. Case screening time, although not affecting the imposition of custodial sentences, is also positively associated with sentence length. These findings are discussed through the lens of instrumental and expressive functions of punishment.

show abstract

Section: Prior Research On Sentence Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%