Too lenient? Too harsh? Biased against minorities and the poor? Too easily influenced by public
opinion or defiantly nonresponsive to it? The process of determining punishment for convicted
criminals in the United States has no end of critics from across the political spectrum. But
exactly how are sentences determined in state and federal courts? Have efforts to deter crime
through harsher sentences proven effective?


Product Description from Amazon.com

From the Code of Hammurabi (1800 BC) to the present, Sentencing: A Reference Handbook follows
the historical evolution of the process of criminal punishment, then focuses on the U.S.
judicial system to show how American sentencing laws have changed in response to surges of
different types of crime, or to other factors such as prison overcrowding.


To help readers understand the complex issue of criminal sentencing, this informative volume
describes the major sentencing procedures used in American courts (determinate, indeterminate,
guidelines-based, and mandatory), highlighting the merits and flaws of each with well-documented
cases and examples. Coverage includes a range of contentious issues, including the
disproportionate application of the death penalty, sex offender laws, punishing the addicted
and the mentally ill, and balancing punishment with rehabilitation.

Download File Size:1.9 MB

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