Is the Offense Serious Axis Free of Extralegal Influence?: Assessing the Predictors of a ‘Legally Relevant’ Guideline Criterion

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Grid based sentencing guidelines, composed of offense seriousness and offender criminal history axis, have become a staple of US sentencing in recent decades. As such, extensive research explores whether they reduce extralegal sentence disparity. However, to date, no study has examined whether extra...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kautt, Paula M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2008
In: American journal of criminal justice
Year: 2008, Volume: 34, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 253-273
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Keywords:
Extralegal disparity
Offense seriousness
Sentencing Guidelines
Description
Summary:Grid based sentencing guidelines, composed of offense seriousness and offender criminal history axis, have become a staple of US sentencing in recent decades. As such, extensive research explores whether they reduce extralegal sentence disparity. However, to date, no study has examined whether extralegal disparity is present in how either axis of guideline sentencing are constructed. Using federal sentencing commission data along with both single and multi-level analyses, this research explores the legal and extralegal factors that predict one of these key grid axes: the offense seriousness score. The results call into question not only some assumptions underlying guideline sentencing but also recent analytical strategies for assessing sentencing outcomes in guideline systems.
ISSN:1936-1351
DOI:10.1007/s12103-008-9048-9