NCJ Number
101868
Date Published
1984
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This report reviews research, commission reports, and other sources to determine the historical background as well as philosophical and methodological issues associated with the development and implementation of sentencing guidelines. The report discusses how these issues bear upon Oklahoma's decision whether or not to use sentencing decision whether or not to use sentencing guidelines.
Abstract
Sentencing guidelines have historically been used to reduce sentencing disparity and punish offenders according to crime severity and criminal history. In the States that have adopted them, guidelines have generally been based on statistical analyses of data on past sentencing practices. Matrixes or grids have been developed to determine sentences according to offense seriousness and the offender's criminal history. Philosophical issues associated with sentencing guidelines include whether the problems targeted by sentencing guidelines actually exist, whether other solutions to the problems might be more appropriate or have fewer side effects, and whether other problems should have higher priority. Oklahoma does have sentencing disparity across jurisdictions, but its incarceration rate was second only to Florida's in 1984, suggesting that sentencing guidelines are not required to produce more punitive sentences in Oklahoma. Those who would introduce sentencing guidelines in Oklahoma should ask whether reduction in sentencing disparity is worth the risk of increasing incarceration periods under guidelines. Methodological issues in sentencing guidelines include model selection, data collection, handling special cases, and the costs of developing and monitoring a guidelines system. 25-item bibliography.