NCJ Number
102765
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Law Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1986) Pages: 157-198
Date Published
1986
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This article examines criminal justice theory 'megatrends,' a general movement from one set of fundamental values to the opposite set, in the area of sentencing.
Abstract
Sentencing purposes have moved from utilitarianism to deontology, from the purpose of achieving a social effect to the purpose of doing justice. This involves shifting from a focus on the modification of future offender conduct to the meting out of justice for past conduct. An emphasis on social good has also been replaced by an emphasis on offenders' individual rights. Positivism provided the ideology which fueled the movement to indeterminate, utilitarian sentencing. Classicalism has returned in the present trend to seek equality in punishments and ensure that punishment severity matches offense severity. The shift from the medical model to the justice model for sentencing involves an emphasis on just deserts instead of rehabilitation and on past proportionality instead of future prediction for offender behavior. Sentencing means have shifted from subjective discretion to objective guidelines designed to limit the individualization of sentencing and achieve sentencing uniformity in the interest of equal treatment under the law. Sentencing politics has moved from judicial/executive control to legislative/executive control. The article suggests steps for identifying and understanding 'megatrends' in criminal justice. 158 footnotes.