EVALUATING THE COOK COUNTY SENTENCING GUIDELINES

This article examines the empirical basis for current criminal sentencing guidelines being used in Cook County, Illinois. Unlike in many other sentencing reforms, guidelines have generally been developed out of an empirical analysis of past sentencing decisions through the identification of variables most predictive of sentence. However, when the statistical analysis is inadequate or faulty, the resultant sentencing guidelines must be questioned. Presented is a reanalysis of the original data used to develop Cook County's sentencing guidelines. Generally, the current sentencing guidelines used in Cook County are not found to be predictive of sentence. Implications of this finding are discussed.     

The Veterans' Movements and the Early Republican State in Cuba

This article analyses the Cuban Association of Veterans and Patriots of 1923–1924. This was one among many of such organisations in the early republican period in Cuba. Its formation was motivated by a need to put political pressure on the incumbent administration of the nation for political, social and economic demands. Of particular interest is the insight an analysis of this movement gives us into early state formation in the early republican period, and how ties of loyalty from the wars of independence helped shape the politics and political party formation of post‐independence Cuba.