Statistical Procedures for Analyzing Factors Affecting Judicial Sentences Using Simultaneously Derived Crime Seriousness and Sentence Severity Scales

A variety of characteristics of the defendant, the case, and the court potentially could affect judicial sentences. Building on a recently published method for scaling the seriousness of the crimes and the severity of sentences, this paper describes procedures for investigating factors affecting sentence severity. An empirical example illustrates the procedures, as well as the problems of interpretation and analysis that arise in statistical studies of sentencing.