The Cooptation of Fixed Sentencing Reform

Greenberg, Daniel S.; Humphries, Drew

doi:10.1177/001112878002600207

Cited by 44 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Political fashions play a role in policies concerning prison use, just as they do in other areas of government concerns (Gray, 1973;Savage, 1978). California, for example, has changed its sentencing policies in recent years and now incarcerates large numbers of law offenders (Ryan and Pannell, 1979;Greenberg and Humphries, 1980). Its prisons are much more crowded than they were in the mid-1970's.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Values, Culture, and Prison Policy

Cox

1984

The Prison Journal

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Values, Culture, and Prison Policy

Cox

1984

The Prison Journal

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“…For liberals, sentencing reform was a plank in the civil rights platform. During the due process revolution fostered by the Warren Court, some liberals called for restrictions on judicial discretion as a way to reduce sentencing discrimination and disparity noted by the American Friends Service Committee, prisoner's rights groups, and others (Greenberg and Humphries 1981;Irwin and Austin 1994;Walker 1980). In contrast, increasing support for a sentencing policy based on a model of "just deserts" invigorated conservative backing for sentencing reform (Von Hirsch 1976).…”

Section: The Old Story: a Brief History And Some Shared Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, increasing support for a sentencing policy based on a model of "just deserts" invigorated conservative backing for sentencing reform (Von Hirsch 1976). Partly in response to the apparent rise in crime rates (FBI 1972(FBI , 1980(FBI , 1991 and to citizens' anxieties about personal safety in the wake of urban unrest, some conservatives called for measures that would "get tough on crime" by ensuring that sentences were both more harsh and more certain (Greenberg and Humphries 1981;Walker 1980). This theme received additional momentum when Robert Martinson's (1974) massive evaluation of correctional programs was interpreted simplistically to suggest that "nothing works"; the study actually indicated that no correctional programs could be shown to work better or worse than any others (Tonry 1995;Walker 1980).…”

Section: The Old Story: a Brief History And Some Shared Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinate sentencing: A feminist and postmodern story

Wonders

1996

Justice Quarterly

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In this article I employ the concept of storytelling, as developed in feminist and postmodern theory, to explore the assumptions underlying the story about determinate sentencing that has dominated sentencing research and policy since the 1970s. Four analytic tools embedtled in storytelling--a critique of objectivity, a focus on process, an understanding of identity, and a new conceptualization of power--are used to investigate core assumptions that guide determinate sentencing policy. Finally, I offer a new story about sentencing and argue that the incarceration crisis fostered by current sentencing policy is in part a crisis of imagination.The story about determinate sentencing, as it is currently told, has been written by both liberals and conservatives over the past two decades. Determinate sentencing legislation has taken several forms but typically consists of legislated minimum, maximum, and/ or fixed sentences for some or all offenses.: Despite profound differences in the goals that they thought determinate sentencing would achieve, liberals and conservatives hold a common set of assumptions critically important in shaping the narrative about sentencing that currently dominates the political landscape. In this article I examine these assumptions in an effort to tell a new story about determinate sentencing. The story that unfolds here reveals that the understanding of sentencing that has guided reform in the past * Thanks to many supportive colleagues at Northern Arizona University for editorial suggestions and constructive comments: ~fifteen jurisdictions had adopted sentencing guidelines to limit judicial discretion; more than ten had eliminated parole release; another twenty-five had adopted parole guidelines; many had narrowed the ambit of good time; and all had enacted mandatory minimum sentence legislation (often requiring minimum ten-, twenty-, or thirty.year terms and sometimes mandatory sentences of life-without-possibility-of-parole)." In addition, the federal government and many states have legislated sentencing guidelines; indeed, "twentytwo states had, or were at work on voluntary or presumptive guidelines" (Tonry 1996:29). All of these strategies are part of a nationwide effort to make sure that the length of sentence is "determinate" or certain (rather than "indeterminate" or uncertain).

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“…The combination of more commitments and longer sentences is beginning to have a dramatic impact on incarceration rates and prison management. There has been a basic organizational contradiction in that the harsher code revisions led to large prison population increases without corresponding increases in funding which would allow corrections officials to deal effectively with the added responsibilities (Greenberg and Humphries, 1980). The Problem for Prisons The negative impact of the prison environment on staff and inmates alike has been thoroughly documented (e.g., Sommer, 1976;Bowker, 1980;Murton, 1982).…”

Section: Sentencing Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial Management of Prisons? Responses to Prison Litigation

Selke

1985

The Prison Journal

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The Cooptation of Fixed Sentencing Reform

Cited by 44 publications

References 0 publications

Values, Culture, and Prison Policy

Values, Culture, and Prison Policy

Determinate sentencing: A feminist and postmodern story

Judicial Management of Prisons? Responses to Prison Litigation

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