How do Judges Decide?: The Search for Fairness and Justice in Punishment

Abstract

Acknowledgments Preface 1. The Goals of Sentencing Why Punish? How Much to Punish? Theories of Punishment and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Conclusion 2. Sentencing Options and the Sentencing Process The Judge's Options at Sentencing Sentencing as a Collaborative Exercise The Sentencing Process 3. How do Judges Decide Modeling the Sentencing Process How Do Judges Decide? 4. Sentencing Disparity and Discrimination Disparity and Discrimination Gender and Sentencing Focus on an Issue: Should Men and Women Be Treated the Same Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing 5. Sentencing Disparity and Discrimination: Racial Disparity in Sentencing Race and Imprisonment: Evidence of Disproportionality Race and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Focus on an Issue: Race and Sentencing for Drug Offenses: Punishment and Prejudice? Race and the Death Penalty: A Failed Experiment? Justice From the Bench? 6. Thirty Years of Sentencing Reform The Sentencing Reform Movement Structured Sentencing Reforms Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes Focus on an Issue: Sentencing Drug Offenders: Incarceration or Treatment--What Works? Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out Laws Truth-In-Sentencing Laws Three Decades of Reform 7. The Impact of the Sentencing Reform Movement Have Sentencing Reforms Led to More Punitive Sentences? Have Sentencing Reforms Led to a Reduction in Crime? Have Sentencing Reforms Reduced Disparity and Discrimination? Assessing the Impact of the Sentencing Reform Movement References Index About the Author