U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Social Worlds of Sentencing: Court Communities Under Sentencing Guidelines

NCJ Number
168701
Author(s)
J T Ulmer
Date Published
1997
Length
244 pages
Annotation
This book investigates sentencing disparity, case processing and organizational relations under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines.
Abstract
Many States and the Federal system have embraced sentencing guidelines as a mechanism of sentencing reform. This book draws from interactionist theories of organizations and James Eisenstein's depiction of courts as communities to frame an investigation of sentencing disparity, case processing and organizational relations under Pennsylvania's sentencing guidelines. The book includes a statistical analysis of statewide sentencing outcomes and comparative statistical and ethnographic analysis of three different-sized county courts. The statistical data show that the major influences on sentencing are legally prescribed ones, but that factors such as conviction by trial, race and gender, and court size are also significant. Ethnographic data illuminate processes behind the statistics by connecting court organizational contexts to case processing strategies and these strategies to sentencing outcomes. Notes, tables, references, appendixes, index