Use of Early Release and Sentencing Guidelines To Ease Prison Crowding: The Shifting Sands of Reform (From Prison and Jail Crowding: Workshop Proceedings, P 146-235, 1987, Dale K Sechrest et al, eds. -- See NCJ-106410)

• NCJ Number: 106412
• Author(s): J Austin
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 90 pages
• Corporate Author: Carter Ctr
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-106410.

Annotation

This study examined the impact of sentencing guidelines and early release on prison crowding, public safety, and the character of the prison population in six States.

Abstract

The impact of sentencing guidelines was reviewed for Minnesota, Washington, and Pennsylvania, and early release was examined for Illinois, Michigan, and Tennessee. Early release programs showed the most immediate and direct impact on prison population control, but these programs have been generally short-lived, being highly vulnerable to termination by politicians advocating a 'get tough' policy with offenders. Sentencing guidelines have produced a more lasting effect on prison populations, although they are also used to increase the frequency and length of incarceration depending on the political climate. Sentencing guidelines and the commissions that administer them, however, do provide ongoing vehicles for monitoring sentencing practices and their impact on prison crowding. Guidelines and more severe sentencing practices have focused on the imprisonment of violent and repeat offenders, producing an older and increasing black and Hispanic prison population. Neither early release nor sentencing guidelines have positively or negatively impacted public safety. 16 tables, 9 figures, and 31 references. (Author abstract modified)