Risk assessment in sentencing and plea bargaining: The roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Journal
Behavioral sciences & the law
ISSN: 1099-0798
Titre abrégé: Behav Sci Law
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 8404861
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jan 2020
Jan 2020
Historique:
received:
25
04
2019
revised:
04
09
2019
accepted:
22
10
2019
pubmed:
5
12
2019
medline:
20
8
2020
entrez:
5
12
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Research on risk assessment in sentencing has focused heavily on the role of judges. Ignoring the role of other courtroom actors in the sentencing process, however, leaves unexamined the potentially significant effects on judicial decision making of arguments made by prosecutors and defense attorneys at sentencing hearings. Unduly focusing on judges also overlooks the vast majority of sentences arrived at through negotiated guilty pleas. We explored the extent to which considerations of risk are made among prosecutors and defense attorneys when advocating for given sentences in open court or during plea negotiations. We surveyed all prosecutors and defense attorneys in 14 judicial circuits in Virginia and found that most prosecutors and defense attorneys at least "sometimes" explicitly invoked actuarial risk estimates both at sentencing hearings and during plea negotiations. However, defense attorneys were much more likely than prosecutors to be averse to the use of risk assessment in either form of case disposition.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1-11Informations de copyright
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Références
American Law Institute (2017). Model Penal Code: Sentencing. Philadelphia, PA: American Law Institute.
Bushway, S. (2019). Defendant decision-making in plea bargains. In V. Edkins, & A. Redlich (Eds.), A system of pleas: Social science's contributions to the real legal system (pp. 24-36). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190689247.003.0003
de Keijser, J., Roberts, J., & Ryberg, J. (Eds.) (2019). Predictive sentencing: Normative and empirical perspectives. London, UK: Hart.
DeMichele, M., Baumgartner, P., Wenger, M., Barrick, K., Comfort, M., & Shilpi, M. (in press). Public safety assessment: Predictive utility and differential prediction by race in Kentucky. Criminology and Public Policy.
Dervan, L. (2019). Bargained justice: The history and psychology of plea bargaining and the trial penalty. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 31, 239-247. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2019.31.4-5.239
Edkins, V., & Redlich, A. (Eds.) (2019). A system of pleas: Social science's contributions to the real legal system. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190689247.001.0001
Farrar-Owens, M. (2013). The evolution of sentencing guidelines in Virginia: An example of the importance of standardized and automated felony sentencing data. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 25, 168-170. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2013.25.3.168
First Step Act (2018). Public Law No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194.
Garrett, B., Jakubow, A., & Monahan, J. (2019). Judicial reliance on risk assessment in sentencing drug and property offenders: A test of the treatment resource hypothesis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 46, 799-810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854819842589
Garrett, B., & Monahan, J. (in press). Judging risk. California Law Review.
Harding, S. (2018-2019). On prosecutorial decision making: Factors and philosophies. Law and Psychology Review, 43, 193-212.
Helm, R., Reyna, V., Franz, A., Novick, R., Dincin, S., & Cort, A. (2018). Limitations on the ability to negotiate justice: Attorney perspectives on guilt, innocence, and legal advice in the current plea system. Psychology, Crime and Law, 24, 915-934. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2018.1457672
Henderson, K. (2019). Defense attorneys and plea bargains. In V. Edkins, & A. Redlich (Eds.), A system of pleas: Social science's contributions to the real legal system (pp. 37-55). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190689247.003.0004
Holm, S. (1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 6, 65-70.
Hussemann, J., & Siegel, J. (2019). Pleading guilty: Indigent defendant perceptions of the plea process. Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy, 13, 459-522.
Hyatt, J., & Chanenson, S. (2016). The use of risk assessment at sentencing: Implications for research and policy. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Johnson, T. (2019). Public perceptions of plea bargaining. American Journal of Criminal Law, 46, 133-156.
Kern, R. (2004). Overview of Virginia's truth-in-sentencing system. Retrieved from http://sfc.virginia.gov/pdf/committee_meeting_presentations/June%2019%20meeting/Virginia%20Felony%20Sentencing%20Guidelines.pdf
Kern, R., & Farrar-Owens, M. (2004). Sentencing guidelines with integrated offender risk assessment. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 16, 165-169. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2004.16.3.165
Kleiman, M., Ostrom, B., & Chessman, F. (2007). Using risk assessment to inform sentencing decisions for nonviolent offenders in Virginia. Crime and Delinquency, 53, 106-131. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128706294442
Kroonenberg, P. M., & Verbeek, A. (2018). The tale of Cochran's rule: My contingency table has so many expected values smaller than 5, what am I to do? American Statistician, 72, 175-183. https://doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2017.1286260
Wisconsin, LV. 881 N.W.2d 749 (Wis. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S.Ct. 2290 (2017).
McCannon, B. (2019). Prosecutors and plea bargains. In V. Edkins, & A. Redlich (Eds.), A system of pleas: Social science's contributions to the real legal system (pp. 56-79). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190689247.003.0005
Metz, A., Monahan, J., Garrett, B., & Siebert, L. (2019). Risk and resources: A qualitative perspective on low-level sentencing in Virginia. Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 1476-1492. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22199
Monahan, J., Metz, A., & Garrett, B. (2018). Judicial appraisals of risk assessment in sentencing. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 36, 565-575. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2380
Monahan, J., & Skeem, J. (2016). Risk assessment in criminal sentencing. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 489-513. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-092945
Ostrom, B., Kleiman, M., Chessman, F., Hansen, R., & Kauder, N. (2002). Offender Risk Assessment in Virginia. Washington, DC: National Center for State Courts.
Redlich, A., Bushway, S., & Norris, R. (2016). Plea decision-making by attorneys and judges. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 12, 537-561. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-016-9264-0
Redlich, A., Wilford, M., & Bushway, S. (2017). Understanding guilty pleas through the lens of social science. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 23, 458-471. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000142
Redlich, A., Yan, S., Norris, R., & Bushway, S. (2018). The influence of confessions on guilty pleas and plea discounts. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24, 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000144
Reitz, K. (2017). “Risk discretion” at sentencing. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 30, 68-73. https://doi.org/10.1525/fsr.2017.30.1.68
Slobogin, C. (2018). Principles of risk assessment for researchers and practitioners. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 36, 507-516. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2383
Starr, S. (2014). Evidence-based sentencing and the scientific rationalization of discrimination. Stanford Law Review, 66, 803-872.
Travis, J., Western, B., & Redburn, S. (2014). The growth of incarceration in the United States: Exploring causes and consequences. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission (2012). 2012 Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.vcsc.virginia.gov/2012VCSCAnnualReport.pdf
Wingrove, L. (2016). Virginia embraces the challenges of evidence-based decision making. Executive Exchange. Retrieved from http://www.napehome.org/_documents/pub/spring_2016.pdf
Wright, R. F. (2017). Prosecutor institutions and incentives. Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society, 18, 85-100.
Zimring, F. (2012). The city that became safe: New York's lessons for urban crime and its control. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Zottoli, T., Daftary-Kapur, T., Edkins, V., Redlich, A., King, C., Dervan, L., & Tahan, E. (2019). State of the states: A survey of statutory law, regulations and court rules pertaining to guilty pleas across the United States. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 37, 388-434. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2413