May 17, 2004
Jury Sentencing
Professors Nancy King and Rosevelt Noble have posted this terrifically interesting study of felony jury sentencing on SSRN. Here’s the text of their abstract:
Jury sentencing in non-capital cases is one of the least understood procedures in contemporary American criminal justice. This Article looks beyond idealized visions of jury sentencing to examine for the first time how felony jury sentencing actually operates in three different states – Kentucky, Virginia, and Arkansas. Dozens of interviews with prosecutors, defenders, and judges, as well as an analysis of state sentencing data, reveal that this neglected corner of state criminal justice provides a unique window through which one can observe some of the most fundamental forces operating in criminal adjudication today.
It turns out that jury sentencing in practice looks very little like jury sentencing in theory. Sentencing by jury is promoted for its democratic appearance, but its vitality may turn instead upon its ability to streamline case disposition and protect elected officials from political accountability for sentencing policy. Jury sentencing is viewed by these criminal justice insiders as a critical component of the justice system in each state, a tool they have adapted to deter trials, to accommodate elected judges, and to appease constituents who support ever higher sentences for crime. The Article explores the implications of this research for sentencing reform, and criminal justice reform generally.
May 17, 2004 at 05:47 PM | Permalink
Comments
Red-eyed with emotion, Joshua Wade sits by Jim McComas, one of his defense attorneys, after a jury cleared him of murder charges Wednesday. Wade was convicted of a felony charge of evidence tampering and could be freed soon. (Photo by Jim Lavrakas / Anchorage Daily News) I find out while watching the evening News last night on Channel 2, Anchorage, that my son Josh has been picked up once again for a parole violation. Will he ever learn? I am so sad and frustrated both with him and the the News! Him for being so stupid and you because he was acquitted of the charge of murder! Yet every time he gets in trouble, you continue to bring up the charges he was found “NOT GUILTY” of! How is he ever going to be able to assimilate back into life or find work, if this is continually revisited. I am so very tired of reliving this nightmare… So I wrote the following response to bothe the “Anchorage Daily News and KTUU Channel 2 News”; You need to realize that he has a faimily as well and this whole experience has been devastating to all of us as well. There must be more important news to share with the public than my son and his problems while on parole. There are many others that have violations of their parole, lets just have a whole news program or an entire page of the newspaper devoted to each and everyone of them… PLEASE!
Posted by: Greg Wade | Mar 4, 2006 7:30:26 PM
Posted by: laptop battery | Oct 14, 2008 5:10:01 AM
Dozens of interviews with prosecutors,
defenders, and judges,
as well as an analysis of
state sentencing data.
Posted by: health blog | Feb 7, 2011 8:12:48 AM
Wade was convicted of a felony charge of evidence tampering and could be freed soon.
Posted by: Robe de Cocktail Pas Cher | Dec 12, 2012 1:41:24 AM