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Impact of Sentencing Guidelines on Jail Incarceration in Minnesota

NCJ Number
167864
Journal
American Jails Volume: 9 Issue: 5 Dated: (November/December 1995) Pages: 36-41
Author(s)
S J D'Alessio; L Stolzenberg
Date Published
1995
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examines whether Minnesota's sentencing guidelines have contributed significantly to an observed increase in jail incarceration rates.
Abstract
Although available evidence suggests that Minnesota's Determinate Sentencing Law has had little effect on prison incarceration rates, it is still uncertain whether the sentencing guidelines have affected jail use. Studies of increased jail incarceration rates have pointed to pre-existing trends, more severe sentencing of repeat property offenders, and judicial concern with prison overcrowding as possible underlying causes of the increase in jail incarceration. The study reported in this article investigated the validity of these competing explanations. A longitudinal study design was used, and data were calibrated in monthly intervals. The findings show that the onset of the sentencing guidelines increased judicial use of the jail sentence beyond the effect of pre-existing trends. The study also found that when prison populations are high, judges are more likely to depart from the guidelines in order to sentence an offender to jail rather than to prison. This latter finding supports the thesis that judicial concern with prison overcrowding motivated judges to circumvent guidelines in order to shift the burden of incarcerating offenders from the State to the local level. The policy implications of these results for determinate sentencing reform are discussed. 2 figures, 10 references, and 3 figures