Compliance with Sentencing Guidelines: The Decision Whether to Incarcerate

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1981

Abstract

The data analyzed consisted of those collected for all 506 cases in which a sentence was imposed in the Denver District Court during the 11 months immediately following the implementation of sentencing guidelines in November 1976. Judicial compliance with and deviation from the sentencing guidelines were examined using crosstabulation analysis. Descriptive statistics reported were (1) the percentage of cases in which the guideline sentence (probation or incarceration) and the sentence actually imposed were the same, (2) the number of cases in which the guideline sentence was incarceration but the actual sentence was probation, and (3) the number of cases in which the guideline sentence was probation but a sentence of incarceration was imposed. The Denver sentencing guidelines were designed to predict 80 percent of the judges' sentencing decisions. The study data showed that the decision about whether to incarcerate conformed to the guideline sentence in about 80 percent of the cases. It is unclear whether this compliance rate is wholly attributable to the predictive power of the guidelines or partly attributable to judicial conformity. Graphic and tabular data are provided along with 10 notes.

Publication Title

Corrections at the Crossroads - Designing Policy

Comments

This is an essay published in the collection, edited by S E Zimmerman and H D Miller

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