Mandatory Minimum Research Articles

Three strikes and you're out: Demographic analysis of mandatory prison sentencing

Much of the debate about the costs and benefits of "three-strikes" laws for repeat felony offenders is implicitly demographic, relying on unexamined assumptions about prison population dynamics. However, even state-of-the-art analysis has omitted important demographic details. We construct a multistate life-table model of population flows to and from prisons, incorporating age-specific transition rates estimated from administrative data from Florida. We use the multistate life-table model to investigate patterns of prison population growth and aging under many variants of three-strikes laws. Our analysis allows us to quantify these demographic changes and suggests that the aging of prison populations under three-strikes policies will significantly undermine their long-run effectiveness.

Abstract

To what extent are pleas and sentences of drunk drivers influenced by legal factors such as offense severity and priors versus extralegal factors such as race and gender? It was found that guilty pleas and sentences were based most heavily on offense severity. Pleas also were based on ethnicity, with Caucasians more than twice as likely to plead not guilty. Although judges often fail to impose mandatory sentences, the judges in this sample always imposed mandatory sentences on drunk drivers.

Mentally disordered offenders: Sentencing policy under the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997

This article focuses on the provisions of Home Office circulars 52/1997 and 54/1997. Both circulars were published in conjunction with the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 last year and aim to provide guidance and assistance to the relevant professionals as to the implementation of the provisions, which have been introduced by the Act. Principally, the Act introduced new and controversial mandatory custodial sentences and a specific new disposal power in relation to mentally disordered offenders. This article outlines the main provisions of both circulars and attempts to assess the likely impact and utility of the guidance that has been provided. In particular, attention is focused upon the provisions in relation to the new custodial sentences and specific emphasis is placed upon their likely impact in relation to the disposal of mentally disordered offenders. It is submitted that the guidance contained in the circulars adds very little to the interpretation of the provisions in the Act. Consequently, it is maintained that, in the absence of detailed and specific guidance, much emphasis will be placed upon the medical profession to assist the court in determining the appropriate disposal in relation to mentally disordered offenders.

Sentencing and the practice of peacemaking*

Almost all major court systems are now beset by a range of problems relating to sentencing policy and practice. These include crowded dockets that result in minimal consideration of individual sentencing decisions, a limited range of sentencing options, and mandatory sentencing policies that unduly restrict judicial discretion. These policies have contributed to dramatic increases in prison and jail populations. Several policy changes would help create a more rational and effective sentencing system: establish a more individualized approach to the sentencing of offenders; repeal mandatory sentencing laws and other overly restrictive sentencing policies; and, reallocate resources between the criminal justice system and other societal institutions.

Developing Sentencing Guidelines in Massachusetts: A Work in Progress

Sentencing guidelines legislation is currently under consideration by the Massachusetts legislature. This paper discusses the process used by the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission in formulating the sentencing guidelines legislation. The conceptual model and key substantive considerations associated with the sentencing guidelines are summarized, with special attention to two salient issues – intermediate sanctions and mandatory sentencing and their relationship to the sentencing guidelines. The paper concludes with a discussion of the reactions to the guidelines legislation and the prospects for passage.

Malingering Uncommon Psychiatric Symptoms Among Defendants Charged Under California's “Three Strikes and You're Out” Law

This paper describes an epidemic of uncommon psychiatric symptoms among nine criminal defendants charged under California's new "Three Strikes and You're Out" law. The defendants were facing a minimum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. The defendants exhibited the following uncommon psychiatric symptoms: coprophagia (eating feces), eating cockroaches and many reported seeing little green men. The defendants, all of whom we believe were malingering, were evaluated by the authors for competency to stand trial. Thus far, eight of the nine defendants were found competent to stand trial; only one defendant was found incompetent to stand trial. The authors created a database which included information on the defendants from court documents and from our interview with the defendants. We summarized the data and outcomes of the case. Also included is a brief review of the "Three Strikes Law" and a paradigm for how we ruled out relevant psychiatric diagnoses before we arrived at our opinion of malingering.

Making Sense of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997

The Crime (Sentences) Act 1997' received the Royal Assent on 21 March 1997, the day Parliament was prorogued prior to the General Election on 1 May. Being conceived during a highly politicised era, the Act was the product of a series of reluctant compromises forced on the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, during the last stages of the Conservative administration. In essence, the then Labour opposition agreed to support seventeen Government Bills in return for his agreement to retain a House of Lords amendment to the Crime (Sentences) Bill giving judges discretion not to impose mandatory minimum sentences on domestic burglars and Class A drug traffickers in specified circumstances. The Act did not have immediate effect and contained no dates for its implementation.2 As it stands, the Act is, by common consent,3 the most profoundly unsatisfactory piece of populist sentencing legislation for many years. Nevertheless, for reasons as yet unclear,4 the incoming Labour government has chosen to implement most of the Act's provisions within the next few months. The Government's intentions were revealed by the new Home Secretary, Jack Straw, in a Parliamentary Written Answer on 30 July 1997 and many of the provisions were brought into force with effect from 1 October 1997.5 In addition to examining some of the Act's more controversial provisions, this note focuses on two important issues arising from the legislation. First, it analyses the

Letter to President Clinton: Crack and Powder Cocaine Sentencing Policy in the Federal Criminal Justice System

On April 29,1997, the United States Sentencing Commission (Commission) submitted to Congress a report containing recommendations regarding crack and powder cocaine sentencing policy in the federal criminal justice The Commission recommended that the triggering amount for a five year mandatory minimum sentence for crack be changed from the current 5 grams to somewhere between 25 and 75 grams, and that the triggering amount for a five-year mandatory minimum sen tence for powder cocaine be changed from the current 500 grams to somewhere between 125 and 375 grams. In a statement issued on the day the report was submitted to Congress, you commended the Com mission for its report, agreeing that some adjust ment to the cocaine penalty structure is warranted as a matter of sound criminal justice policy [because] [f]ederal prosecutors should target midand high-level drug traffickers, rather than low-level drug offend ers. You recognized that [t]he disparity between sentences for powder and crack cocaine has led to a perception of unfairness and inconsistency in the federal criminal justice system. You further stated, however, that crack has had a particularly devastating impact on communities across America, and thus [t]he sentencing laws must continue to reflect that crack cocaine is a more harmful form of cocaine. You directed us to study the Commission's report and to make our recommendations on cocaine sentencing in the federal

Too Many Black Men: The Sentencing Judge's Dilemma

Legal reform sometimes has unanticipated, even ironic, results. A good example is federal legislation adopted in the 1980s that was supposed to enhance equity in sentencing. Congress, like many state legislatures in this period, reduced judicial control over sentencing by adopting presumptive sentencing guidelines for all serious criminal offenses and mandatory sentences for some specific crimes. Reformers did succeed in reducing judicial discretion in the sentencing process, but racial disparities have gotten much worse. Unprecedented numbers of minorities, particularly black men, are going to jail for long terms. The situation leaves trial judges in a difficult position. They are legally bound to implement a sentencing regime that many of them believe is racially discriminatory. Herbert Jacob's work on criminal trial courts provides a framework for investigating this problem. As Jacob's organizational approach predicts, judges were initially more troubled by the diminution of their powers than by the emerging pattern of increased minority incarceration. Nevertheless, some judges have criticized the racial implications of the sentencing law, protesting in various, resourceful ways. Judicial resistance to a law on moral grounds, though rare, is significant because it represents a break in the ranks of officialdom that enhances the moral credibility of critics of the current law.

“Three Strikes and You're Out”: The Impact of California's New Mandatory Sentencing Law on Serious Crime Rates

Using monthly data drawn from the 10 largest cities in California and an interrupted time-series design with nonequivalent dependent variables, the authors assessed the impact of California's “three strikes and you're out” law on the serious crime rate and on a control series measured as the petty theft rate. Overall, maximum-likelihood results indicated that the three-strikes law did not decrease serious crime or petty theft rates below the level expected on the basis of preexisting trends. Policy implications of these findings are discussed, and explanations are given as to why the effect of California's three-strikes law was inconsequential in 9 of the 10 cities examined.

Sentencing Sex Offenders—English Law

Cambridge University, England Until relatively recent years, English sentenc ing legislation did not attempt to structure the exercise of discretion by sentencing judges. Criminal statutes fixed maximum sentences, but never minimum terms; judges were free to de cide whether to impose a term of imprisonment, within the statutory maximum, or to impose some other form of sentence, such as a probation order, a community service order or a hospital order. Murder, punishable with a mandatory life sentence (from which the offender could be released on licence) was the only exception. Effective direction of sentencing policy and practice was the responsibility of the Court of Appeal, acting through the process of appellate review. Judgments of the Court of Appeal on large numbers of cases every year provided (and continue to provide) a pool of guidance on the general prin ciples of sentencing, and on the lengths of sentence appropriate in particular cases. Decisions of the Court of Appeal indicated that as a general principle, offenders (including those convicted of sexual offences) were to be sentenced on the basis of what they had done, rather than what they might do in the future. The idea that an offender should be sentenced to term of imprisonment which was longer than he deserved for his actual offences, in order to protect the public from expected future offences, was generally rejected. A long sentence, passed for an offence such as indecent assault, to prevent the offender from committing further offences, would be reduced to a term which was considered proportionate to the offence, even though there was evidence which indicated that the offender would continue to commit similar offences.

Sexual Offenses in Minnesota: Recent Changes to Sentencing and Post-Sentencing Provisions

Legislature have increased the severity of the penalties for criminal sexual conduct offenses. The Sentencing Guidelines Commission increased the length of presumptive sentences. The legislature raised statutory maximum penalties, changed the mandatory minimums, created mandatory departure provisions, and removed limits on the duration of consecutive sentences. It also mandated longer periods of supervision for offenders released from prison and community notification upon such release.

Incentive compatibility constraints as an explanation for the use of prison sentences instead of fines

In standard models of optimal deterrence, which assume perfect information on the part of the social planner, fines dominate jail sentences as an instrument for punishing crime. In the real world, however, punishment using prisons is quite common. This paper provides an explanation for that empirical observation. If criminals either have private information about their own wealth, or have a substantial portion of their wealth in the form of human capital, the social planner cannot simply impose a fine on a criminal, who can always claim to have insufficient wealth to pay the fine. Rather, because of the need for incentive compatibility, it is as if the social planner offers the criminal a choice: either pay the fine or go to jail. That additional constraint on the social planner dramatically reduces the effectiveness of fines vis-a-vis a perfect information world. Mandatory sentencing guidelines exacerbate the problems associated with incentive compatibility by restricting a judge's ability to tailor penalties to individual criminals.

Testimony of Julie Stewart Families against Mandatory Minimums: U.S. Sentencing Commission Hearing March 18, 1997

In the Commission's public hearings on March 18, 1997, on proposed amendments to the guidelines, we were particularly impressed by the testimony ofjtdie Stewart, founder and president ofFAMM. In it, she urged the Commission to take a more active role in the public debate over sentencing policy. One specific suggestion was that the Commission prepare and release a series of short research reports on different aspects of federal sentencing. At FSR's request, Ms. Stewart developed a list of topics for such projects, which we reprint as an Appendix to her testimony.

Crack vs Inhaled Cocaine and Sentencing

ABSTRACT To the Editor. —Differences between crack cocaine and cocaine hydrochloride were accepted until the discovery that blacks were disproportionately convicted for possession of crack (a form of cocaine hydrochloride). This led to charges that the law was discriminatory1 and that the disparity between the weight of cocaine hydrochloride and the weight of crack needed to trigger mandatory sentences was based on mythical differences. The review by Hatsukami and Fischman1 addresses this issue.That crack and cocaine hydrochloride are ultimately the same substance is irrelevant. Lead can be found in bullets or in printer's type. The intent of the user not the chemical composition of the material is the relevant information for the legal system.The weight of material held by the person accused of possession serves only as a metaphor for intent. A greater weight implies an intent to distribute. A smaller amount implies that the drug is for personal use. There

A Study of Macrosegregation in Low-Density Polyethylene Autoclave Reactors by Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling

Flow and reaction in a typical commercial scale autoclave LDPE reactor were modeled by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) k-e model in order to shed light on the macrosegregation effects that can occur in these reactors. It is shown that the CFD model predicts significant differences from CSTR behavior. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of macro- and microscale inhomogeneities of concentration and temperature on free radical polymerization kinetics. The observed nonidealities in terms of minima in the initiator consumption curves and multiple steady states are explained on the basis of competing turbulent transport and chemical kinetics. Microsegregation effects are shown to be negligible in comparison to macrosegregation effects. Given the fact that the CFD model is based on reactive scalar and energy balances without adjusted parameters in the three-dimensional flow field of the entire reactor, it is tentatively concluded that commercial-scale LDPE vessel reactors can have significant macrosegregation effects beyond a certain steady-state adiabatic operating temperature that is specific to the initiator being used.

Sentenced to Death: The American Novel and Capital Punishment

The criminal justice system in America is as powerful a shaper of history and society as its better-known counterparts--the military, politics, government, and technology. In a country that lacks a mandatory death sentence for specific crimes, the American strategy for execution proves to be based more upon distinctions between offenders than upon distinctions between offenses. Five important novels--McTeague, An American Tragedy, Native Son, In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song--bring readers a vivid awareness of America's punitive codes. Each details the story of a life that leads to the gallows. Sentenced to Death places these works against the historical background of crime and capital punishment in America, a nation where public discourse on crime is dominated by images of the electric chair and the gas chamber, by maximum security prisons, by hardened convicts out on parole. Such images, in turn mirror and shape the exercise of punitive power. This probing look at capital punishment in execution novels and in real-life media accents the poles of punitive power. Such a comparison of literary works with confrontational journalism and court records also brings revealing insight into the long-term debate on capital punishment in American culture.

Drunk drivers in the courts: Legal and extra-legal factors affecting pleas and sentences

To what extent are pleas and sentences of drunk drivers influenced by legal factors such as offense severity and priors versus extralegal factors such as race and gender? It was found that guilty pleas and sentences were based most heavily on offense severity. Pleas also were based on ethnicity, with Caucasians more than twice as likely to plead not guilty. Although judges often fail to impose mandatory sentences, the judges in this sample always imposed mandatory sentences on drunk drivers.

Justice in sentencing

The Crime (Sentences) Bill, now before Parliament, enacts changes to the law on sentencing and the early release of prisoners which were foreshadowed in the White Paper “Protecting the Public” (April 1996). These include automatic life sentences on a second conviction for a serious violent or sexual offence; minimum sentences for repeat burglars and drug dealers; and the ending of current early release mechanisms such as automatic conditional release and discretionary parole. The consensus view of those working in the criminal justice process is that the Bill will do nothing to reduce crime but a great deal to increase injustice.

After Homicide: Divided by Systems: A Comparison of Health Service and Probation Service Management of People Who Have Killed

Abstract: Among the many studies of the crime of homicide there is little evidence of interest in the practical management of those convicted. This study sought to compare two groups, identified within entirely different services, each with a different background of management. One was drawn from the probation service and the other from the health service. At the time of sentencing there were remarkably few group differences in demography, social or health status of the two groups of offenders, at least according to contemporaneous reports. The one significant difference was the higher rate of psychosis among those initially sent to hospital. Questions are raised about the diagnosis of personality disorder at the time of the trial and its effect on sentencing. Both hospital and probation staff seemed to be functioning on a dearth of important information. Closer liaison between probation and medical services, both within the prison and within the NHS, in assessing and planning the management of such people seems essential. Two case examples are included which illustrate the issues raised in the study. This study also provides further evidence of the need to review the mandatory life sentence for murder.