Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sentencing reforms as anti-discrimination policy

博士论文研究：量刑改革作为反歧视政策

• 批准号: 0425149
• 负责人: Bruce Western
• 金额: $ 0.69万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-15 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0425149&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Sentencing; reforms

Determinate sentencing polices were adopted, in part, in response to critiques that linked discretion to discrimination and advocated for determinate 'colorblind' policies to replace the indeterminate sentences of the time; as such, these policies are anti-discrimination measures. This dissertation will examine the strengths and limitations of colorblind anti-discrimination policies by analyzing the relationships between the adoption of determinate sentencing policies and changes and continuities in the size and composition of the incarcerated population. Research questions exploring this relationship will be answered by analyzing primary and secondary datasets containing information on punishment outcomes, sentencing, and a variety of state level variables and characteristics of individual offenders. The analysis will use data from all 50 states, will examine the period from 1980 to 2000, and will consist of three research designs. First, pooled cross-sectional time-series analysis will be used to measure the effects of these reforms on incarceration rates, admission rates, and time-served, as well as racial, ethnic, and gender disparity in these measures. Next, an individual level longitudinal design will be employed to access the effects of sentencing reforms on changes in time-served and the impact of extra-legal characteristics on time-served. These first two analyses will be limited to the six states for which I have collected extensive data on sentencing reform legislation. Finally, an individual level longitudinal design will be used to access the effects of truth in sentencing, parole abolition, and the adoption of sentencing guidelines on time-served and the effect of extra-legal characteristics on time-served. While group-membership based disparities in punishment outcomes are a social reality with a long history in the US, the prison boom of the last quarter century has increased the impact of these disparities. As such, it is increasingly urgent that we understand the effects of policies adopted as remedies The broader impacts of this research include the following: Because the proposed analyses address the ways in which definitions of discrimination shape policy and thus direct policy outcomes, the findings of this study will help policymakers design more informed and effective anti-discrimination policies. Although researchers and policy makers often assume a causal relationship between sentencing reforms and changes and continuities in the demographics of imprisonment, we currently have no comprehensive empirical assessment of the effects of these policies. This study will provide an empirical test for assumptions under which many criminal justice policy makers currently operate.

确定的判决政策部分是针对将酌处权与歧视联系起来的批评，并主张确定“色盲”政策以替代当时不确定的句子的策略；因此，这些政策是反歧视措施。该论文将通过分析采用确定的量刑策略与变化以及被监禁人群的大小和组成的变化以及连续性之间的关系，来研究色盲反歧视政策的优势和局限性。探索这种关系的研究问题将通过分析包含有关惩罚结果，量刑以及各种州级变量和各个罪犯的特征的主要和次级数据集来回答。该分析将使用来自所有50个州的数据，将检查1980年至2000年的时期，并由三个研究设计组成。首先，将使用合并的横截面时间序列分析来衡量这些改革对这些措施中的监禁率，入院率以及时间安排以及种族，种族和性别差异的影响。接下来，将采用单个级别的纵向设计来访问量刑改革对时间安排变化以及法律特征对时间安排的影响的影响。这两个分析将仅限于我收集有关量刑改革立法的大量数据的六个州。最后，将使用单个级别的纵向设计来访问真理在量刑，假释废除术语中的影响，并采用时间安排的量刑准则以及法律外特征对时间安排的影响。尽管基于团体成员的惩罚结果差异是在美国历史悠久的社会现实，但上四分之一世纪的监狱繁荣增加了这些差异的影响。因此，我们越来越迫切地了解采用作为补救措施的策略的影响，这项研究的更广泛影响包括：因为拟议的分析涉及歧视型政策的定义以及直接的政策结果的方式，因此该研究的发现将帮助政策制定者的设计更多知识和有效的反命令政策。 尽管研究人员和政策制定者经常在监禁人口统计中的量刑改革与变化和连续性之间存在因果关系，但我们目前对这些政策的影响没有全面的经验评估。 这项研究将为许多刑事司法决策者目前运作的假设提供经验检验。