Author Description

This book provides an historical examination of modern sentencing reform in the United States, describes many different types of reform, includes exhibits of actual sentencing guidelines and mandatory sentencing laws, evaluates the efficacy of a various reforms through the lens of a social science perspective, and considers ethical issues and legal challenges surrounding the implementation of various forms of sentencing reform on the federal and state levels. Modern Sentencing Reform is unique in that it provides a comprehensive examination of sentencing reform in the United States by meshing the historical context of sentencing reform with a social scientific research approach that evaluates the consequences of reforms, as well as a consideration of the legal cases and ethical concerns surrounding various reforms. An advantage of integrating these different perspectives is that the student can gain a complete understanding of sentencing reform from a single source.