Judicial Decision Making, Sentencing Policy, and Numerical Guidance [Paperback]

This book describes an original, empirical study of judicial decision making. The process of determining sentences is a difficult one for judges and often unnecessarily intuitive, subjective, and complex. The present study introduces a conceptual outline and empirical technique for increasing the precision of sentencing policy, thus offering an aid to judges who sentence in the light of this policy. The primary purpose of this model of judicial decision making is to provide a framework for scaling the seriousness of any single case in relation to the facts of that case and for relating this assessment to the appropriate quantum of sentence. The validity of the model is tested and cross-validated in an archival study. This innovative research serves as an important prototype for a system of numerical guidance to judges and sentencers.One A Perspective for a Quantitative Approach to Sentencing Policy and Guidance.- 1 The Task of Describing Sentencing Policy Quantitatively.- The Structure and Nature of the Sentencing Judgment.- Imprecision in the Sentencing Judgment.- Legal Perspectives on the Problem of Imprecision in the Sentencing Judgment.- The Study: Challenge and Constraints.- 2 Approaches to the Development of Detailed Sentencing Statistics and Numerical Guidelines.- Guideline Judgments of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in England.- Wilkinss Empirically Based Descriptive Guidelines.- Hogarths Sentencing Data Base.- Doobs Sentencing Data Base.- Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commissions Policy-Based Prescriptive Guidelines.- United States Sentencing Commissions Presumptive Guidelines.- 3 Toward a Model of Judicial Decision Making: An Unproductive Review of Psychological Research.- Atheoretical Approaches to the Study of Sentencing.- Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Sentencing.- The Role of Theory in Sentencing.- Psychological Contributions to the Study of Sentencing: An Overview.- Two An Archival Study of a Legal Model of Judicial Decision Malӥ