Sentencing policy was found to have an important direct influence on sentencing outcomes and most importantly, sentencing policy influenced the effects of key legal and extra-legal factors. The lower odds of incarceration and drastic reduction in sentence length under the 1994 guidelines are a testament to this influence. Evidence indicates that sentencing under Florida’s second formulation of guidelines is considerably more responsive to current offense type and seriousness compared to sentencing under the initial determinate policy. Contributing to the understanding of sentencing outcomes and disparity by incorporating sentencing policy as a key determinate of decisions, this study examined the impact of changes in sentencing policy on sentencing decisions. The differences in Florida’s sentencing policies provided a unique opportunity to evaluate how sentencing policies influenced the sentencing decision and disparity associated with the decision. Sentencing data compiled by the Florida Department of Corrections were used. Under the 1983 sentencing guidelines there were 345,037 cases sentenced and under the 1994 guidelines there were 352,988 sentenced. References