NCJ Number
163166
Journal
Criminology Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1996) Pages: 281-288
Date Published
1996
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the methodological disagreement between two pairs of researchers, D'Alessio and Stolzenberg and Moody and Marvell, concludes that both of their analyses of the impact of sentencing guidelines on jail incarceration rate (JIR) in Minnesota can be questioned and that a more definite conclusion might be reached through the use of an augmented database that goes beyond the JIR time series.
Abstract
The original D'Alessio and Stolzenberg analyses of the JIR time series may be questioned because of the use of listwise deletion. It is impossible to reach a definite conclusion about the impact of this procedure on the substantive conclusions without access to the original data. The Moody and Marvell reanalysis may also be questioned because the JIR time series may be more appropriately and conservatively modeled as difference stationary rather than trend stationary. However, in any case, the small number of pre-intervention observations makes difficult any strong inferences about the impact of the sentencing guidelines intervention. Additional analyses may help to corroborate one or the other of the competing analyses of the JIR series. Figures, table, and 5 references