Opening the Door for More: Assessing the Impact of Sentencing Reforms on Commitments to Prison Over Time

Since the early 1970s, U.S. states have adopted a series of sentencing reforms that have substantially altered sentencing and release policies by limiting discretion of judges, parole boards, and/or prison administrators. The current study assesses shifts in year-to-year changes in new commitments and parolees returned to prison within all 50 states from the years 1972 to 2008. The study tests the theory that sentencing reforms resulted in increased commitments to prison due to changes in the structures of sentencing and not due to increased crime. Data was analyzed using panel regression with robust standard errors, fixed effects, and conditional change scores. By treating six main sentencing reforms as dynamically interacting, the results suggest that certain combinations of sentencing reforms significantly increase new commitments while the number of parolees returned to prison was not meaningfully affected. The analysis further indicates that the combinations that the reforms appear in at the state-level influence the magnitude of the impacts of reforms.     

Empty Promises? The Demise of Self-Bonding for Coal Mining Reclamation

Over the past few years, a number of major coal companies have undergone bankruptcy. The financial assurance these coal companies provided for reclamation of mines has become an important issue as federal and state agencies have sought to avoid footing the bill for reclamation of mining sites. In particular, the practice of self-bonding, as opposed to third-party bonding, has come under scrutiny. Recent bankruptcies of coal companies have exposed the risk that companies that go bankrupt, or do not come out of bankruptcy, will not be able to provide funds or assets in the amount that the company self-bonded. In other words, self-bonds amount to empty promises, particularly when the coal industry is distressed. Accordingly, federal agencies have discouraged self-bonding. Some states have abandoned the practice. Environmental groups have called for a universal prohibition on self-bonding. In recent bankruptcy proceedings, coal companies bowed to pressure to replace self-bonds with other collateral. But it is not clear that self-bonding is gone for good—or whether it should be.     

The Mariel refugee and the New York Criminal Court

In the spring of 1980, the Mariel Boat Lift brought refugees from Communist Cuba to the shores of Florida. Most refugees came seeking political freedom, but many were sent by the Cuban Government directly from its prisons and mental institutions. Literal rejects of their own society, they arrived in this country and spent many months interned in refugee camps. As they moved out into local communities, their behavioral problems began to come to the attention of local authorities. This paper describes the "Marielitos" seen in the Forensic Psychiatry Clinic for the Criminal and Supreme Courts of New York between mid-1980 and mid-1985. It explores how their reactions to their new environment may be affected by their past psychiatric and criminal histories, their language barrier, and the stress of the emigration experience.     

The diffusion of feminist ideology

According to Converse, the ideas/beliefs of an ideology are diffused in packages—i.e., diffusion necessarily involves constraint. However, a person may become aware of these packages and the substance of an ideology of which they are a part without accepting them. Consequently, diffusion produces an increase in both awareness and constraint with the former increasing more than the latter. Diffusion may also take two forms. The ideology may be accepted by more members of the same social class from which the movement's leaders were recruited (horizontal diffusion); or the ideology may spread beyond the confines of the original class to attract the support of the less advantaged (vertcal diffusion).We apply this model of diffusion to the feminist movement in the United States for the period 1972 to 1976. The weight of our evidence indicates that significant horizontal as well as vertical diffusion has occurred. It appears that as the general public became more aware of feminist ideas and beliefs, support for these ideas and beliefs increased along with the constraint between various measures of them.     

Crime Victims Serving as Jurors: Is There Bias Present?

This project examined the decisions of 2435 mock jurors of whom 984 reported being a victim of some type of crime and 982 reported knowing a close friend or relative who had been a victim. Participants watched a videotape of a trial of a burglary of a habitation and were asked to give individual verdicts. Results indicated that jurors who identified themselves as victims of the same crime convicted significantly more frequently than those who had not been victims. Victims of violent crimes (a type of crime dissimilar to that for which the defendant was on trial) were not more likely to convict than were non-victims. Implications of this research are discussed.     

Women and arson: a demographic study

This study describes women accused of setting fires in the City of New York who were evaluated between 1980 and 1983 at the Forensic Psychiatry Clinic for the New York Criminal and Supreme Courts. Consideration is given to their age, ethnicity, history of prior mental illness, abuse of controlled substances, economic status, family background, education, and employment. Their methodology, planning, and targeting for their firesetting behavior, as well as reported motivations for engaging in arson, are also considered.     

“Fixed” Sentencing: The Effect on Imprisonment Rates Over Time

Objective

Sentencing guidelines, statutory presumptive sentencing, determinate sentencing, truth in sentencing, and three strikes are important components of the criminal justice system. The main purpose behind a relatively-fixed sentence is to remove judicial discretion by insuring that convicted felons receive a reasonably-assumed sentence depending on the crime committed. The current study assessed shifts in year-to-year changes in incarceration rates within all 50 states from the years 1965–2008 due to the adoption of sentencing reforms.

Methods

The study tests two competing theories, a normative theory and critical theory of the expected effects of reforms on imprisonment. Data was analyzed using panel regression with unit-specific fixed effects, conditional change scores, panel corrected standard errors, and a new measure of reforms.

Results

This study, possibly due to differences in model specification, ran counter to a number of previous studies and suggests some “front-end” sentencing reforms and “back-end” release changes are, on average, related to changes in imprisonment.

Conclusions

The study concluded, that when significant, reforms increased more than decreased prison growth in comparison to indeterminate sentencing. Additionally, the analysis concludes that changes in release mechanisms and parole decision structures are driving increased growth more than changes in sentencing structures.     

Effects of an Alibi Witness’s Relationship to the Defendant on Mock Jurors’ Judgments

Two studies tested the impact of an alibi witness’s relationship to a defendant on the perceived credibility of that witness. In the first study, 291 mock jurors estimated the frequency with which individuals would invent alibis, the frequency they themselves would do so, and the frequency of interpersonal contact among individuals of varying relationships. The degree of relationship between an alibi witness and a defendant remained a predictor of witness credibility when contact frequency was controlled. In the second study, 512 mock jurors were randomly assigned to case scenarios. Skepticism toward witnesses who are biologically or affinally related to a defendant was greater than skepticism toward a socially linked witness. Both studies supported predications from kinship theory and reciprocal altruism.