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Unmasking Justice: Racial Disparity Trends In Sentencing Before And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Noah Samuel Reynolds

All Theses

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted every facet of the United States justice system, disrupting traditional systems and introducing a new era of virtual alternatives. This unprecedented crisis provides a unique opportunity to empirically study the interplay between health risks, shutdowns, and uncertainty and the foundational value of fair and impartial justice. Using North Carolina sentencing data from 2016-2022, this study delves into the consequences of the pandemic on sentencing outcomes after the virus was declared a national emergency in March 2020. Framed within the Focal Concerns (FC) theory, I expect judges to be more lenient in their …

Criminal Justice: Racial Equity In United States Of America, Glenn Bass

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a spiritual sense of awakening as it pertains to a revelation of the human spirit. A revival, or improvement in the condition of any individual or social infrastructure will re-establish citizenship and further restore virtue within the United States of America. Researchers have articulated that our criminal justice system is broken through police retention/recruitment, lack of resources, ineffective prosecution and public defenders, sentencing disparities, and lack of understanding of the socioeconomic status of the criminal or violent offender. These issues are subtopics underneath the umbrella of racial equity. The …

Worthless Checks? Clemency, Compassionate Release, And The Finality Of Life Without Parole, Daniel Pascoe

Northwestern University Law Review

Life without parole (LWOP) sentences are politically popular in the United States because, on their face, they claim to hold prisoners incarcerated until they die, with zero prospect of release via the regularized channel of parole. However, this view is procedurally shortsighted. After parole there is generally another remedial option for lessening or abrogating punishment: executive clemency via pardons and commutations. Increasingly, U.S. legal jurisdictions also provide for the possibility of compassionate release for lifers, usually granted by a parole board.

On paper, pardon, commutation, and compassionate release are thus direct challenges to the claim that an LWOP sentence will …

Problem-Solving Courts And The Outcome Oversight Gap, Erin R. Collins

UMKC Law Review

The creation of a specialized, “problem-solving” court is a ubiquitous response to the issues that plague our criminal legal system. The courts promise to address the factors believed to lead to repeated interactions with the system, such as addiction or mental illness, thereby reducing recidivism and saving money. And they do so effectively – at least according to their many proponents, who celebrate them as an example of a successful “evidence-based,” data-driven reform. But the actual data on their efficacy is underwhelming, inconclusive, or altogether lacking. So why do they persist?

This Article seeks to answer that question by scrutinizing …

Long History Of Leniency? A Call For A Georgia Statutory Mitigation Factor For Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Jonathan Fagundes

Georgia Law Review

In Georgia, criminal sentencing marks a critical period for convicted defendants. As the final moment before the superior court fashions a punishment, the defendant faces a pivotal opportunity to introduce mitigating evidence, including evidence of mental health challenges, life circumstances, and other facts. Where such evidence is offered, the superior court can properly issue a sentence that aligns with the purposes of punishment or other state policies. But some populations, especially veterans convicted of nonviolent offenses, are exposed to unique stressors that likely affect their culpability. The existing sentencing regime, however, does not guarantee that this mitigating evidence will even …

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

A Second Chance At Success: Using “Second Look” Laws To Modify Sentences Of Juvenile Offenders, Sophia M. Adams

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

“Second look” sentencing laws allow incarcerated individuals to petition to have their sentences reexamined and potentially reduced after they have served a significant period of incarceration. This rehabilitative relief is conditioned upon an offender showing that they have made meaningful positive changes while incarcerated and would not pose a threat to their community if released. Implementing second look laws is particularly appropriate in the context of offenders who have committed crimes as juveniles. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that juvenile offenders are less culpable than their adult counterparts and psychological science supports this conclusion. This Comment examines and compares …

A Critical Assessment Of The First Step Act’S Recidivism-Reduction Measures, Raquel Wilson

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) is the most impactful federal sentencing reform of the past 40 years. While the Act represents a partial resurgence of the rehabilitative model of imprisonment, which had fallen out of favor decades before, it also represents a missed opportunity to fully integrate evidence-based rehabilitation programs for those offenders who pose the greatest risks to public safety.

The public has a strong interest in reducing recidivism, particularly among violent offenders, most of whom will be released from federal prison eventually. The FSA incentivizes participation in evidence-based, recidivism-reducing programs offered by the Bureau of Prisons …

Time And Retribution, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Time is missing from discussions on the theory of retribution. A colossal body of scholarship has been devoted to exploring the theory of retribution, or 'just deserts," but much less has attempted to translate this theory into practice, explaining how to determine an actual offender's desert in real life. The limited scholarship on this topic touches on who might best assess an offender's desert. For example, should a judge, a juror, or the public itself be making these desert decisions? But there is also a temporal aspect to this decision making that has thus far largely eluded exploration: When should …

A Democratic Restraint On Incarceration, Marah S. Mcleod

Journal Articles

From the Article

This Article proposes a new sentencing model that employs the democratic voice of the jury to restrain individual injustice and mass incarceration by having the jury establish the maximum term that an individual defendant deserves and confining judicial sentencing discretion within that upper bound.

Showing Mercy Through A Presumption Of Retribution, Marah S. Mcleod

Journal Articles

From the Article

This Essay proposes a path toward the systematic consideration of mercy in American sentencing. America does not have to choose between retributive blame on the one hand and nonjudgmental mercy on the other. Inspired by Whitman's description of the European "presumption of mercy," America can implement a presumption of its own-one that opens the door to the nonarbitrary exercise of mercy, while retaining a clear focus on retributive desert. Such a presumption, tailored to American political realities and moral norms, might be called a "presumption of retribution"-and this presumption could be codified in law while explicitly made …

Debunking Criminal Restitution, Lula Hagos

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Criminal restitution—the money paid by a defendant to a victim—is often overlooked amidst growing scholarly consensus about the adverse impact of criminal court fines and fees. Restitution receives less attention because it is perceived as a fair and unobjectionable sanction with legitimate goals, while fines and fees are now widely condemned as primarily serving as a funding source for local and state governments. Consequently, the animated and extensive discourse around financial punishment largely excludes criminal restitution.

Though criminal restitution may appear to have legitimate penological purposes, it serves to perpetually punish defendants who are poor—the vast majority of those in …

The Influence Of Prior Legal Background On Judicial Sentencing Considerations, Esther Nir, Siyu Liu

International Journal on Responsibility

State court judges are influenced by a myriad of factors during criminal case processing. To study the influence of prior legal background on judicial decision-making at sentencing, we performed in-depth qualitative interviews of 39 trial court judges presiding over criminal cases in a Northeastern U.S. state. We find that judges are influenced by their former legal experiences and most judges are cognizant of this influence. While certain sentencing considerations are prioritized for almost all judges (e.g., criminal history, seriousness of the offense), prioritization and processing of many other sentencing criteria are correlated with prior legal background. Former defense attorneys tend …

Imprisoned By Algorithms: Risk Assessment Instruments And Predictive Sentencing In The Criminal Legal System, Thomas Johnson

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Tools for predicting an individual’s risk of recidivism are implemented throughout the criminal legal system, from informing decisions about release pretrial to identifying appropriate treatment plans for successful reentry. Data-driven risk assessment is increasingly being incorporated during sentencing proceedings across the United States. There is significant variation across jurisdictions in how these tools are constructed and what they aim to predict. The use of algorithmic risk assessment at sentencing is hotly contested due to concerns over the opacity of algorithms developed by private corporations, the potential for perpetuating disparities present in the criminal legal system, and violations of the constitutional …

Silent Sentences: The Procedural Tragedy Of The Bureau Of Prisons' Sentence Computation Policy, Max Abramson

Georgia Law Review

The Bureau of Prisons has systematically lengthened sentences—at times doubling them—for prisoners subject to federal and state sentences for the same conduct. This phenomenon does not stem from any expressed intent on the part of federal or state judges, defense attorneys, the prosecution, or a plea deal. Instead, it arises through silence at a prisoner’s federal sentencing on a key issue: whether the federal sentence is consecutive to or concurrent with a yet-to-beimposed state sentence.

For those facing both a federal sentence and a yet-to-beimposed state sentence for the same conduct, perhaps no other aspect of sentencing has a greater …

Examining Remorse In Attributions Of Focal Concerns During Sentencing: A Study Of Probation Officers, Colleen M. Berryessa

International Journal on Responsibility

This research, using interviews with probation officers in the United States (n = 151) and a constant comparative method for analysis, draws from the focal concerns framework to qualitatively model a process by which probation officers use a defendant’s remorse to attribute focal concerns in order to guide their sentencing recommendations in pre-sentencing reports. The model suggests that officers use expressions of remorse to make attributions about mitigated criminal intention (blameworthiness and notions of responsibility), reduced dangerousness and a high potential for reform (community protection), and organization-level effects for increasing caseload efficiency and using correctional resources (practical effects of …

Disparities In Extreme Contexts: The Impact Of Gender And Mental Health Status On The Criminal Justice Outcomes Of Extremists, Andrea Corradi

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: While disparities in the treatment of individuals in the criminal justice system have been well-documented, due to varying political and legal contexts it is likely that disparities may differ for perpetrators of extremism. This research examines the effects of gender and mental health status on criminal justice outcomes of individuals who have been accused of committing ideologically motivated crimes in the United States. Methods: Using the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) and logistic and ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression models, this study estimates the effects of these individual characteristics on adjudication method and sentence length, and isolates pre/post-2001 time-periods. Results: The …

Why Judges Should Use 18 U.S.C. § 3553 To Assess Prison Sentences Qualitatively In The Context Of Collateral Relief, Luke Doughty

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

“Take The Motherless Children Off The Street”: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome And The Criminal Justice System, Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo

University of Miami Law Review

Remarkably, there has been minimal academic legal literature about the interplay between fetal alcohol syndrome dis- order (“FASD”) and critical aspects of many criminal trials, including issues related to the role of experts, quality of counsel, competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, and sentencing and the death penalty. In this Article, the co-authors will first define fetal alcohol syndrome and explain its significance to the criminal justice system. We will then look at the specific role of experts in cases involving defendants with FASD and consider adequacy of counsel. Next, we will discuss the impact of FASD on the …

Public Perceptions And Punishment Of Sex Offenders, Emily R. Ives

Student Theses

Previous research has examined negative public perceptions and attitudes towards sex offenders and, in turn, how sex offenders are punished. The present study aims to build on previous research by examining whether perceptions of sex offenders are impacted by the offender’s relationship to the victim, and how victim perpetrator relationship may impact sentencing. Survey data from n=119 participants was examined. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three relationship conditions (i.e., stranger, acquaintance, or spouse) which was manipulated within a mock article vignette describing a rape incident. Subsequently, participants completed questionaries regarding sentencing of the described perpetrator, as well …

After Miller V. Alabama: A Content Analysis Of Juvenile Sentencing Decisions Across The United States, Kristen H. Williams

Honors College Theses

In 2012 a Supreme Court ruling (Miller v. Alabama) determined that life without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional based on the eighth amendment. However, the Supreme Court decision only applied to ongoing and future cases. The objective of this thesis was to conduct a policy analysis on new sentencing laws (i.e., state level) and subsequent Supreme Court decisions (i.e., federal level) that impacted the juvenile court after Miller v. Alabama (2012). Furthermore, it examined differences across states as a result of newly implemented legislative actions. A search of all 50 states and federal actions was conducted to gather …

Perceived Dangerousness Mediates Punitive Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders: Results From A Vignette Experiment, Nathan E. Kruis, Kim S. Ménard, Jaeyong Choi, Nicholas J. Rowland, Tyler Frye, Rachel Kosaka, Alicia Williams

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study used an experimental vignette (n = 1,093) to examine the effects of perpetrator sex and age, and victim sex and age, on simulated juror sentencing recommendations for individuals convicted of sexual offenses (ICSO). Path analyses were used to see if differences in punitive attitudes could be explained by perceptions of dangerousness participants attached to experimentally manipulated variables, as hypothesized by attribution theorists. Results show that participants consistently recommended longer sentences, higher fines, and indicated greater support for post-release sanctions for male offenders, older perpetrators, and for offenders who victimized younger adolescents. Path analysis demonstrated that perceptions of …

Take The Motherless Children Off The Street: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome And The Criminal Justice System, Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo

Articles & Chapters

Remarkably, there has been minimal academic legal literature about the interplay between fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) and critical aspects of many criminal trials, including issues related to the role of experts, quality of counsel, competency to stand trial, the insanity defense, and sentencing and the death penalty. Nor has there been any literature about the interplay between FASD-related issues and the legal school of thought known as therapeutic jurisprudence.

In this article, the co-authors will first define fetal alcohol syndrome and explain its significance to the criminal justice system. We will then look at the specific role of experts …

The Electoral Connection In Court: How Sentencing Responds To Voter Preferences, Joshua Boston, Bernardo S. Silveira

Political Science Faculty Publications

Do elected judges tailor criminal sentences to the electorate’s ideology? Utilizing sentencing data from North Carolina’s Superior Courts—which transitioned from statewide to local elections in 1996—we study whether judges are obliging to voters’ preferences. We find some evidence of responsiveness: judges from liberal districts were more lenient, while those from moderately conservative districts assigned harsher sentences. Judges from increasingly conservative districts did not change their sentencing patterns, which leads to lower re-election rates. These findings suggest that judges adapt their behavior to retain office, or else they are held accountable by the public.

The Effects Of Gender Stereotypes And Types Of Crime On Perceptions Of Responsibility, Sentencing Severity, And Likelihood Of Recidivism, Spencer Hagenbuch

CMC Senior Theses

Past research has produced mixed findings regarding the roles of gender stereotypes in criminal sentencing. Usually, women receive preferential treatment; however, studies have shown that women receive harsher sentencing than men under certain circumstances. In light of these findings, we argued that the Chivalry and Paternalism thesis shows how women are exempted from harsh punishment when their crimes align with negative gender stereotypes, resulting in lenient treatment most of the time. Additionally, we argued that women receive harsher sentencing when their crimes violate positive gender stereotypes while men receive harsher sentencing when their crimes 1) violate positive gender stereotypes or …

Between Cooperation And Conflict In Second Look Sentence Review, Kay L. Levine, Ronald F. Wright

Faculty Articles

This Article offers the first scholarly assessment of new resentencing practices initiated by state prosecutors in the United States. Unlike the conviction integrity units that have become institutional fixtures in many prosecutors’ offices over the past two decades, attorneys working on resentencing matters rarely address concerns about the legal integrity or factual accuracy of the conviction itself. Prosecutors and defense attorneys instead consider the continuing integrity of the sentence imposed on the defendant. Perhaps a second look is necessary because the sentence imposed for the crime no longer appears necessary to serve public safety goals, because the prisoner has aged …

Sentencing In An Era Of Plea Bargains, Jeffrey Bellin, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The literature offers inconsistent answers to a question that is foundational to criminal law: Who imposes sentences? Traditional narratives place sentencing responsibility in the hands of the judge. Yet, in a country where 95 percent of criminal convictions come from guilty pleas (not trials), modern American scholars center prosecutors – who control plea terms – as the decider of punishment. This Article highlights and seeks to resolve the tension between these conflicting narratives by charting the pathways by which sentences are determined in a system dominated by plea bargains.

After reviewing the empirical literature on sentence variation, state and federal …

“Progressive” Prosecutors And “Proper” Punishments, Benjamin Levin

Scholarship@WashULaw

After decades of relative inattention to prosecutorial elections, academics and activists recently have focused on “progressive prosecutors” as a promising avenue for criminal justice reform. That said, the growing literature on progressive prosecutors reflects little clarity about what makes a prosecutor “progressive.” Recent campaigns suggest disparate visions of how to operationalize “progressive prosecution.” In this chapter, I describe four ideal types of progressive prosecutor: (1) the progressive who prosecutes, (2) the proceduralist prosecutor, (3) the prosecutorial progressive, and (4) the anti-carceral prosecutor. Looking to sentencing policy as a case study, I examine how these different ideal types illustrate different visions …

Sentence Length And Perceptions Of Dangerousness As A Function Of Race, Attributional Complexity, And Ability To Meet Bail, Hannah Baldwin

Psychology Theses

Defendant race and ethnicity impact sentencing length decisions, leading to discrimination in the criminal justice system. Aspects of the pretrial process that strongly correlate with a defendant’s socioeconomic status, the use of cash bail, may also influence sentencing length, given the negative stereotypes about individuals of lower socioeconomic statuses. Relatively few studies have explored the impact of cash bail use on sentencing decisions or sought to understand why use of cash bail might influence these decisions. The current study investigates the impact of defendant ability to meet bail (yes v. no) on judgments of sentence length and dangerousness within the …

A Call To Abolish Determinate-Plus Sentencing In Washington, Rachel Stenberg

Washington Law Review

For certain incarcerated individuals who commit sex offenses, Washington State’s determinate-plus sentencing structure requires a showing of rehabilitation before release. This highly subjective “releasability” determination occurs after an individual has already served a standard sentence. A review of recent releasability determinations reveals sentences are often extended on arbitrary and inconsistent grounds—especially for individuals who face systemic challenges in prison due to their identity or condition. This Comment shows that the criteria to determine whether individuals are releasable is an incomplete picture of their actual experience in the carceral setting, using the distinct example of incarcerated individuals with mental illness. While …