NCJ Number
178373
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: March 1999 Pages: 99-122
Date Published
1999
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Federal sentencing policy now allows for reduced penalties in cases in which offenders formally accept responsibility for their crimes; using data from a random sample of 12 district courts, this research examines whether offender race and other offender characteristics influence this structured adjustment in the sentencing process.
Abstract
The data provided controls for offender characteristics, both legally relevant and extralegal, as well as measures of offense type and severity. Logistic regression procedures were used to analyze additive and interaction models. The analysis confirms that various characteristics of the defendant exerted some influence on receiving the adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. Minority defendants were less likely than whites to receive this adjustment; women were somewhat more likely than men to receive the adjustment. A greater number of months employed during the past year slightly increased the likelihood of receiving acceptance. Single defendants were more likely than married defendants to receive the award. If the probation officer identified the defendant as experiencing psychological difficulties or needing therapy or counseling, the decrease in receiving the adjustment was slightly less than for defendants with no identified difficulties. Conversely, defendants with identified substance abuse problems were somewhat more likely to receive acceptance than were those with no problems. This finding suggests that defendants with substance-abuse difficulties may need and request various forms of treatment; in doing so, they may express remorse and acceptance of responsibility for their related criminal behavior. Overall, when the relative influence of offenders' characteristics as a group were assessed, race/ethnicity had a substantial influence. 2 tables and 68 references