The Offender and the Court. A Statistical Analysis of the Sentencing of Delinquents

Abstract

imposition of sentences in criminal cases is so important to the community at large that it ought to be constantly acquainted not only with the procedure involved but with the type of sentence itself. This comment was made by the four judges of the Essex County (New Jersey) Court of Common Pleas on a statistical analysis of their sentencing practices presented by one of the nation's leading newspapers the Newark Evening News.3 The analysis was stimulated by this newspaper and made by the New Jersey State Department of Institutions and Agencies with the cooperation of the judges, the clerk of court, and the county probation department. The analysis covered sentences which the four judges imposed on 4,029 adult males during three selected years (1932, 1935 and 1939). Of the total number of cases Judge A had 38.3 per cent, Judge B 35.4 per cent, Judge C 17 per cent and Judge D 9.3 per cent. A comparison of the offenses of the individuals sentenced shows a fairly even distribution among the four judges; and likewise the proportion of the individuals before the court with single and multiple charges did not differ materially. As stated by the Newark Evening News: Aspects studied included variations in sentences among the judges, tendencies in penalties as these relate to different crimes, preferences of a judge for use of special rehabilitative or punitive measures, case loads handled by each judge, the increasing practice of recalling prisoners and giving a lighter sentence, and comparisons of the treatment of wholesale offenders