Origins of Criminal Sentencing Reforms

• NCJ Number: 102674
• Journal: Justice Quarterly Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1986) Pages: 329-341
• Author(s): C T Link; N Shover
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: This is a revision of a paper presented to the American Society of Criminology, San Diego (November 1985).

Annotation

This paper explores the explanatory utility of two broad perspectives on correctional reform, one informed by materialism and the other by a functionalist interpretation of state policy.

Abstract

Using state-level demographic, economic, and political data, we examine some structural antecedents of criminal sentencing reform during the period 1971-1982. Using stepwise regression procedures, variables derived from the materialist perspective prove superior to variables derived from the functionalist perspective as predictors of the extensiveness of changes in criminal sentencing codes. While the findings are encouraging, they reinforce the need for a more complex model of change in law. (Publisher abstract)