Law Commons^™

Proportionality As A Guiding Principle In Young Offender Dispositions, Paul Riley

Dalhousie Law Journal

Sentencing is traditionally regarded as one of the most difficult and challenging functions of the criminal justice system. In arriving at the appropriate sanction to be imposed upon an offender, a court must reconcile the principles and objectives of the criminal law with the criminal act committed, the circumstances surrounding its commission, and the character of the offender who committed it. The court must, with the guidance of a few abstract, broadly philosophical, and often contradictory principles of sentencing, decide upon a sanction which is appropriate in the very concrete and factually specific case within which it is presented. This …

Go And Sin No More: Rationality And Release Decisions By Parole Boards, Victoria Palacios

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sotto Voce: The Supreme Court's Low Key But Not Insignificant Criminal Law Rulings During The 1992 Term, William E. Hellerstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Due Process Limits On Sentencing Power: A Critique Of Pennsylvania's Imposition Of A Recidivist Mandatory Sentence Without A Prior Conviction, Leonard N. Sosnov

Leonard N Sosnov

Pennsylvania has an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program which provides for pretrial diversion for accepted defendants. In exchange for avoiding the risk of conviction, the defendant agrees to supervision or treatment for a specified period of time. Successful completion can lead to dismissal of the charges, while a violation may result in reinstatement of the charges and a criminal trial.

Pennsylvania, like most states, also has recidivist sentencing provisions for repeat offenders. It has chosen to include a prior ARD acceptance in its definition of a prior conviction for purposes of its mandatory sentence recidivist drunk driving laws. The article …