The sentencing reform act of 1984: A bold approach to the unwarranted sentencing disparity problem

Conclusion In 1984, after years of study and thorough debate, a bipartisan majority of the Congress enacted perhaps the most far-reaching reform of the federal criminal justice system in the history of the United States. The Sentencing Reform Act and the federal sentencing guidelines are now beginning to produce data indicating that the objectives of avoiding unwarranted disparity and invidious discrimination are being achieved.After an uncertain beginning, the guidelines are gaining acceptance by courts and criminal justice practitioners. As one appellate court observed in admonishing lower courts that the guidelines must be respected:We have embarked on a new course. Only time will tell whether the use of the guidelines will result in an improvement over the old system. But unless we follow the spirit and written directions of the guidelines, we will never know if they have been given a fair test. They at least deserve that.Indeed, the bold new approach to sentencing that is being followed today in federal courthouses throughout the United States deserves an opportunity to succeed, given its many beneficial features and the lofty goals toward which the reforms are directed. While ample work remains for the United States Sentencing Commission to monitor and improve the guidelines, indications at this still early date are that the experiment is succeeding.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the fifth conference of the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, Parliament House, Edinburgh, Scotland, August 5–9, 1990. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the United States Sentencing Commission.B.A., Davidson College 1964; J.D., University of South Carolina School of Law 1967.B.A., Ohio State University 1974; M.S., Arizona State University 1980; M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1983.B.S., Clemson University 1971; M.S., Clemson University 1975; J.D., University of South Carolina School of Law 1978.     

The cases of Alfred Dreyfus,Mendel Beilis,and Leo Frank

B.A., City College of New York 1973; J.D., American University 1976; LL.M., New York University 1980.     

Theme and variations on criminal law

B.A., City College of New York 1973; J.D., American University 1976; LL.M., New York University 1980.     

Just say no to the war on drugs

B.A., State University of New York, Old Westbury, 1981; J.D., Rutgers University School of Law, Camden, 1989.     

State criminality and the “new” world order

B.A., Bowdoin College 1976; J.D., Harvard University 1980. I acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of Joni Charme, Adam Greenstone, and Bill Graves.     

The transfer of Federal technology and the community college

The State of Ohio has developed a transfer mechanism using its technical and community colleges. A pilot program began in 1979. The program includes eleven of the State's technical and community colleges and the Ohio State University acting as program manager. This paper reports on a program which is a cooperative effort with the Federal Laboratory Consortium that represents some 200 Federal laboratories and the Ohio technical and community college network. The role of the Ohio Technology Transfer Organization (OTTO) is explained and Federal Laboratory Consortium demonstration projects are discussed.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this article:
BILL OF RIGHTS: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW FOR UNDERGRADUATES William Cohen and John Kaplan. Mineola, New York: The Foun- dation Press, Inc., 1976. Pp. 800.
PROBLEMS IN HOSPITAL LAW Nathan Hershey, Chief Editor. Rockville, MD: Health Law Center, Aspen Systems Corp. 2nd Edition, 1974. Pp. 240.
WHERE THE LAW ENDS: THE SOCIAL CONTROL OF CORPORATE BEHAVIOR Christopher D. Stone. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Pp. 273.
WHERE THE LAW ENDS: THE SOCIAL CONTROL OF CORPORATE BEHAVIOR Christopher D. Stone. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Pp. 273.
THE LAW OF CORPORATIONS: WHAT CORPORATE LAWYERS DO Jan G. Deutsch and Joseph Bianco. Mineola, New York: Foundation Press, 1976. Pp. 988.
SOCIAL ISSUES BEFORE THE COURT: A CASE APPROACH Darryl L. Webb. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendallmunt, 1976. Pp. 232.
ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS LAW William T. Schantz and Leonard F. Robertson. Beverly Hills: Glencoe Press, 1977. Pp. 674.
EAVESDROPPING ON TRIAL Edith J. Lapidus. Rochelle Park: Hayden Book Co., 1974. Pp. 223.
PEOPLE OR PENGUINS William F. Baxter. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974. Pp. 110.
A BASIC GUIDE TO FEDERAL LABOR LAW Fred J. Naffziger and Keith Knauss. Columbus, Ohio: Grid, Inc., 1975. Pp. 163.     

A re-examination of the MMPI-2 aggressiveness and immaturity indices in law enforcement screening

This study reports an analysis of Bartol's (1991) Immaturity Index and Hargrave and associates' (1988) Aggressiveness Index as a measure of police conduct. The correlations between the supervisory ratings and the Immaturity and Aggressiveness indices were examined for 1020 law enforcement officers. The results showed that Immaturity Index was related to termination for failure to complete training and insubordination. The Aggressiveness Index was related to a termination for failure to complete training and several other problematic police behaviors, but was not found to be specifically linked with acts of aggression. Implications for using these two indices in law enforcement selection are discussed. Authors' Note: Cary Rostow, Ph.D. is president of Matrix, Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is in private practice in Baton Rouge. Robert Davis, Ph.D., is executive vice-president and director of science, research, and development for Matrix, Inc., and has a private practice in Baton Rouge. James B. Pinston, Ph.D., is a clinical neuropsychologist within the department of neurology at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and School of Medicine in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dennis R. Combs, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tulsa. Dennis R. Dixon, M.A., is currently a doctoral student at Louisiana State University.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this article:
BUSINESS LAW. UCC COMPREHENSIVE VOLUME. 10th edition. Ronald A. Anderson and Walter A. Kumpf. Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Co., 1976. Pp. 759.
PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS LAW, 11th Edition. Robert N. Corley and William J. Robert. Edgewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1979. Pp. 879 and appendices.
BUSINESS LAW: KEY ISSUES AND CONCEPTS Thomas W. Dunfee and J. David Reitzel, Editors. Columbus, Ohio: Grid Publishing, Inc., 1978. pp. 157.
INTRODUCTION TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM, 2nd edition. Bruce D. Fisher. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1977. Pp. 846.
INTRODUCTION TO BASIC LEGAL PRINCIPLES, 2nd edition. Benjamin N. Henszey, Barry Lee Myers, and Reed T. Phalan. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1977. Pp. 607.
THE FILM INDUSTRIES: PRACTICAL BUSINESSLEGAL PROBLEMS IN PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION & EXHIBITION, Second edition. Michael F. Mayer. New York: Hastings House, 1978.
THE LAW OF RESTITUTION George E. Palmer. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1978. Four Volumes, total pp. about 2650.
CORPORATIONS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT Herbert Schmertz. New York: AMACOM, 1978. Pp. 40.
LAW AND POLITICS: THE HOUSE OF LORDS AS A JUDICIAL BODY, 1800–1976 Robert Stevens. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978. Pp. 701.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this article:
DEVELOPMENTS IN TENDER OFFERS FOR CORPORATE CONTROL Edward Ross Aranow, Herbert A. Einhorn and George Berlstein. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. Pp. 411.
THE CHRISTIAN ALTERNATIVE FOR BUSINESS David B. Burks. Dallas, Texas: Gospel Teachers Publications, 1978.
THE PAPERS OF JOHN MARSHALL (VOLUME II) Charles T. Cullen and Herbert A. Johnson, editors. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1977. Pp. 547.
THE AGES OF AMERICAN LAW Grant Gilmore. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977. Pp. 154.
LEGAL SYSTEMS Blair J. Kolasa and Bernadine Meyer. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1978. Pp. 643.
BUSINESS LAW: TEXT AND CASES Burt A. Leete. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1978. Pp. 949.
C. P. A. BUSINESS LAW REVIEW G. B. Lowe. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western Publishing Co., 1978. Pp. 296.
BUSINESS LAW: PRINCIPLES AND CASES, FOURTH UCC Edition. Harold F. Lusk, Charles M. Hewitt, John D. Donnell, and A. James Barnes. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1978. Pp. 1365.
PLANNING WITHOUT PRICES Bernard H. Siegan, Editor. Lexington, Mass.; D. C. Heath and Company, 1977. Pp. 191.
BUSINESS LAW, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE, Fourth Edition Len Young Smith and G. Gale Roberson. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing Co., 1977. Pp. 1123 plus 265 pp. appendix.
LEGAL PERSPECTIVES OF AMERICAN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS Arthur D. Wolfe and Frederick J. Naffziger. Columbus, Ohio: Grid Publishing, Inc., 1977. Pp. 723.     

BOOK REVIEW DEPARTMENT

Books reviewed in this article:
ADJUDICATION OF SOCIAL ISSUES Edwin W. Tucker, West Publishing Co., 1971, pp. 1–214.
LAW AND THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT Leland Hazard, San Francisco, Holden-Day, Inc., 1971,442 pp.
C.P.A. LAW REVIEW Joseph L. Frascona, Homewood, Illinois, Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1972, 1208 pp., §16.00.
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PUNISHMENT Gertrude Evorsky, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1972, 377 pp.     

Niche crime: The Columbus gangs study

Even though researchers have studied gangs for many years now, very little is known about the criminal activity of gang leaders. The purpose of this study is to examine the types of criminal activities in which gang leaders participate. Analysis of the criminal histories of 83 gang leaders from Columbus, Ohio, suggests that gangs there specialize in certain types of crime. These data imply that gang suppression policies might be more effective if they target specific niches of the crime market. The Office of Criminal Justice Services of the State of Ohio funded this research under Grant No. 91-JJ-C010682. The author wishes to thank Dr. Michael R. Sutton of Nottingham Trent University for his contributions to this article.     

Scales for perceived risk of student-on-student victimization in grades 7 through 10: A psychometric analysis of the adolescent index on school safety

Although past research has developed scales for the incidence, prevalence, and fear of student-on-student victimization (SSV), little is known about the scaling of perceived risk (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of the chances of experiencing SSV). Hence, this study examined self-report survey data for the perceived risk of SSV as measured in the Adolescent Index for School Safety (AISS). Children in grades 7 through 10 (n=337) in a single Florida public school completed the AISS. Factor analyses using Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Oblimin Rotation identified nine unique factors for perceived risk. Reliability analyses found standardized Cronbach Alphas that ranged from .64 to .91, and seven out of the nine identified scales were above .80, which suggested good to excellent internal consistency. Future research should examine the content validity, construct validity, and predictive validity for the AISS and other self-report surveys of SSV dynamics. This publication was made possible by a grant [#97-MU-FX-KO12 (S-l)] from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (O.J.J.D.P.), United States Department of Justice (U.S.D.O.J.). This grant is administered through the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence at George Washington University. This specific study was developed and implemented by staff at: 1) East Carolina University’s Department of Criminal Justice; and 2) Florida State University’s Center for Educational Research and Policy Studies. All points of view and opinions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of East Carolina University, Florida State University, the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence, the O.J.J.D.P., or the U.S.D.OJ. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Bill Doerner and Jennifer Jolley for their support, editorial feedback, and insightful comments regarding earlier drafts of this paper.     

BOOK REVIEWS

FEMALE GANGS IN AMERICA: ESSAYS ON GIRLS, GANGS AND GENDER, edited by Meda Chesney-Lind and John M. Hage-dorn. Chicago: Lakeview Press, 1999. Reviewed by Joanne Belknap.

CRACK MOTHERS: PREGNANCY, DRUGS, AND THE MEDIA, by Drew Humphries. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1999. Reviewed by Inger Sagatun-Edwards.

MOTHERS AND ILLICIT DRUGS: TRANSCENDING THE MYTHS, by Susan C. Boyd. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Reviewed by Sandra Marker.

UNDERSTANDING DOMESTIC HOMICIDE, by Neil Websdale. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. Reviewed by Victoria E. Brewer.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE: ISSUES IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, edited by Delbert Rounds. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, pp. 306. Reviewed by Robert J. Mc Cormack.

WOMEN, CRIME AND THE CANADIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM, by Walter S. DeKeseredy. Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing, 2000. Reviewed by MaDonna Maidment.     

Police systems and systems thinking: An interpretive approach to understanding complexity

To start a dialog with police and criminal psychologists concerning systems theory and policing, the authors are presenting the following paper. This paper shares their thinking about systems theory as it might apply to policing. The paper draws upon specific examples from one of the twenty largest police departments in the United States. These examples include: race relations, domestic violence legislation, financing, and developing specialized units. The authors present some of the major concepts associated with systems thinking. They selected—context, valid information, relationships, shared meaning, attractors and agents. In addition, there are recommendations for future direction of dialog and research. Authors' Note: A. Steven Dietz, Ph.D., is an Instructor with Texas State University at San Marcos in the Department of Criminal Justice. Oscar Mink, Ed.D., was Professor of Adult and Human Resources Development Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin until his death in September of 2004. He was licensed as a psychologist in both Texas and New York. He authored or co-authored 14 books and over 200 articles, monographs, and psychological assessment instruments. He founded a correctional counseling institute program at West Virginia University as a visible part of the Division of Clinical Studies that he directed. He had 14 years direct work experience in various aspects of criminal justice at the Federal, State and community level. Dr. Mink consulted with the Austin Police Department on issues related to executive coaching and organizational development.     

Coping with ultimate evil through the criminal law

Editor in Chief,Criminal Law Forum: An International Journal; Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University School of Law, Camden, New Jersey, United States; B.A., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.B., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.M., Victoria University of Wellington 1967; LL.M., Columbia University 1968; J.S.D., Columbia University 1972.     

The internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement

B.A., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.B., Victoria University of Wellington 1964; LL.M., Victoria University of Wellington 1967; LL.M., Columbia University 1968; J.S.D., Columbia University 1972.     

Gun control in the United States

A.B., University of California, Berkeley, 1964; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1970.     

BOOK REVIEW DEPARTMENT

Books Reviewed in this Article:
THE MONOPOLY MAKERS, Mark J. Green, Editor. New York, N.Y.: Grossman Publishers, 1973. Pp. 400. $3.50 (paper).
THE CASELOAD OF THE SUPREME COURT AND WHAT, IF ANYTHING, TO DO ABOUT IT, Alexander M. Bickel. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1973. Pp. 37 (paper).
INTERNATIONAL TRADE & INVESTMENT, Franklin R. Root, Cincinnati, Ohio: Southwestern Publishing Co., 3rd ed. 1973. Pp. 663. $10.95.
ECONOMICS OF MANPOWER AND THE LABOR MARKET, Bevara D. Mabry. New York: Intext Education Publishers, 1973. Pp. 682, $14.00.
THE COLLEGES AND THE COURTS: FACULTY AND STAFF BEFORE THE BENCH, M. M. Chambers. Danville, Illinois: The Interstate Printers and Publishers, Inc., 1973. Pp. 266.
CORPORATE POWER AND SOCIAL CHANGE: THE POLITICS OF THE LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY, Karen Orr. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974. Pp. 204. $10.00.
NEPA IN THE COURTS: A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT, Frederick R. Anderson. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. Pp. 350. $15.00 (clothbound), $6.95 (paper).     

Innocent agency and causation

Q.C. (honorary) 1968; LL.B. (hons.), University of Wales 1931; Ph.D., University of Cambridge 1936; LL.D., University of Cambridge 1946.