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Effects of Reducing Judicial Sentencing Discretion
Author(s) -
NAGEL STUART,
GERACI ROBERT
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1983.tb00264.x
Subject(s) - judicial discretion , discretion , sentence , political science , state (computer science) , law , sentencing guidelines , judicial review , mathematics , computer science , algorithm , artificial intelligence
* * * This article uses a nationwide sample of state criminal cases to show the effects of reducing judicial sentencing discretion on disparities across rural‐urban, southern‐northern, black‐white, and poor‐nonpoor defendants. Judicial sentencing discretion is defined as the ratio between (1) the range in years within which a judge is allowed to sentence, and (2) the minimum number of years the judge must give when there is no probation. The data do indicate specific differences in sentencing between states of high judicial discretion and those of low judicial discretion, and the relationship of these disparities to discrimination is discussed.