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Full-Text Articles in Sociology
Implementing Organizational Change In A Public Agency, David E. Freed
Implementing Organizational Change In A Public Agency, David E. Freed
Dissertations
A major challenge that faces most institutions is that of adapting to and managing change. The leadership of an organization is a key focal point for analyzing how change is accomplished.
This study examines both a theoretical and practical approach to the study of organizational and cultural change. The focus is a public agency and the actions and decision processes of the top leadership relating to organizational and cultural change during the period 1992 to 1995.
From the theoretical perspective, Karl Weick’s approach called sensemaking is examined and a model is created. Sensemaking is an activity that is an explanatory …
Judicial Decision Making Under Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, Abel E. Ekpunobi
Judicial Decision Making Under Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, Abel E. Ekpunobi
Dissertations
Many states and the federal judiciary have adopted sentencing guidelines as a mechanism of sentencing reform. This study used the bounded rationality model to investigate judicial decision-making under Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, and the effectiveness o f the guidelines in reducing or eliminating sentencing disparities — situations in which legally similar defendants receive dissimilar sentences.
A statistical and comparative analysis of a database sample of felony cases (n = 20,834), sentenced in four different-sized Michigan counties from 1992 through 1997, was examined with logistic and linear regression models. Logistic regression results indicate a significant association (p < .05) between incarceration and some legal and extralegal variables. Legal variables, such as prior felony convictions, sentencing guideline scores, offense type/severity, the defendant’s relationship with the criminal justice system, and extralegal variables, such as the defendant’s race and gender, year and county of sentencing, are important predictors of sentencing outcomes. Linear regression results indicate a significant association (p < .05) between the minimum term of imprisonment and prior felony convictions, sentencing guidelines and offense type/ severity, but not with extralegal variables. These results suggest that judicial decision-making remains a human/“bounded rationality” process.
The findings of this study …