Effects of Offenders' Age and Health on Sentencing Decisions (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sentencing outcomes of the older prison population: an exploration of the age leniency argument
Journal of Crime and Justice, 2013
Using data compiled by the United States Sentencing Commission, we examine whether defendants sentenced in US federal courts are shown leniency based on their age, paying particular attention to the outcomes of older defendants (age 50 and over). One way in which this research is unique is that it focuses exclusively on a sample of older offenders and makes more precise distinctions by separately examining three categories of 'elderly' offenders -the 'young-old,' the 'middle-old,' and the 'oldestold.' Consistent with prior research, our findings indicate an age leniency effect where younger defendants (the 'young-old') had the highest odds and older defendants (the 'oldest-old') had the lowest odds of incarceration. However, contrary to expectations, this finding does not hold for the sentence length decision. Legal factors (criminal history, number of counts, going to trial) also played a large role in increasing the likelihood and length of their sentence outcomes. In addition, variations were found across different types of offense categories. The findings in this study point to the importance of making clearer distinctions between the 'elderly' offender populations and suggest that findings may be masked if differences between the 'young-old' and the 'old-old' are not considered. Our results indicate the need for continued exploration of issues dealing specifically with the aging prison population, as well as the examination of policies and practices that impact offenders of all ages.
A Multivariate Analysis of Incarceration and Sentence Length Decisions for Older Defendants
Criminal Justice Policy Review, 2018
This study examines sentencing decisions for older defendants, and how legal and extralegal variables differently affect older defendants. Using data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, the results indicate that defendants above the age of 50 are less likely to be sentenced to prison and jail and are more likely to be sentenced to a community sanction. For sentence length, however, those aged 50 and above receive significant longer jail sentences than those aged 18 to 29 and longer prison sentences than both those aged 30 to 49 and 18 to 29. The results also indicate that offense severity and prior record have a more negative effect on older defendants during the incarceration decision. During the sentence length decision, however, the opposite is found for the effect of offense severity. These findings are discussed and are used to make suggestions for future research and policy implications.
Criminology, 2000
Studies of sentencing in jurisdictions with sentencing guidelines have generally failed to specify adequately the effects of offense seriousness and criminal history-the principal factors that, by law, should determine sentencing decisions. As a result, the explanatory power of those models is seriously limited, and regression coefficients representing both legal and extralegal factors may be biased. We present an alternative approach to specify more precisely the effects of legally relevant factors on sentencing outcomes and test the approach using felony sentencing data from Washington State. We find that controlling for the presumptive sentence substantially improves the fit and explanatory power of models predicting sentencing decisions, and that the estimated effects of extralegal factors, specifically sex and race, reduce considerably. The findings have both substantive and methodological implications.
Justice Quarterly, 2010
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European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
Countries that have judicial discretion in their legal system usually struggle with sentencing disparities. This is no different in Poland. The current study examined whether extralegal factors such as age, sex, education, marital status, number of children, and having a job impact sentencing disparities. We examined court files from 13 district courts in Poland for two offenses: drug possession and drunk driving. Our findings show that sex, age, and number of children have no or little effect on outcomes, whilst marital status and employment status have small to medium effects on sentencing. The clearest result pattern to emerge from our analyses is that defendants with tertiary education are treated more leniently than those with primary or lower secondary education.
Criminology, 1998
Prior theory and research on sentencing oversimplify the role of race, gender and age in judicial decision making. In this article we present a “focal concerns” theory of judicial decision making to frame hypotheses regarding the effects on sentencing of these social statuses, both singly and in combination. Analyzing statewide sentencing outcomes in Pennsylvania for 1989–1992, we find that, net of controls: (1) young black males are sentenced more harshly than any other group, (2) race is most influential in the sentencing of younger rather than older males, (3) the influence of offender's age on sentencing is greater among males than females, and (4) the main effects of race, gender, and age are more modest compared to the very large differences in sentencing outcomes across certain age-race-gender combinations. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering the joint effects of race, gender, and age on sentencing, and of using interactive rather than additive models.
Age and ageism in the sentencing of older adults
2011
As Canada's population ages, judges will increasingly have to determine what sorts of sentences are appropriate for aged criminal offenders. This thesis sought to uncover current trends in judicial practices by asking the research questions: Does old age have an impact on a sentence? When, why, and in what way? Are these practices ageist? This thesis investigates these important questions by first comparing the sentences handed down to older adults (those aged older than 60 years) with those handed down to younger adults (those aged under 60 years) to see if old age has an impact on the duration of penal sentences. While the duration of the sentences handed down to older adults compared to younger adults are not significantly different, in many cases, judges explicitly state that old age operates as a factor that commands leniency in a sentence. Next, a qualitative analysis of the legal texts of the judgments examines when, why and in what way old age influences sentencing pract...
SENTENCING MATTERS: FACTORS DETERMINING SENTENCE LENGTH- AN EXPLORATORY VIGNETTE STUDY
We investigate factors affecting sentence length. Employing a vignette design, we assess whether offender's sex, regret, recidivism and family characteristics impact sentence length for two types of crime: assault and fraud. We also investigate whether respondent characteristics such as sex, age and knowing someone who has been convicted play a role, as well as the time of day the respondent filled out the vignette questionnaire. Legally relevant factors impact sentence length as expected: regret reduces sentence length and recidivism increases it. Fraud was overall judged to be a more serious crime than assault. Offenders with a young family received lighter families, especially from female 'judges'. Older 'judges' handed down substantially lower sentences, and female ' gave somewhat lower sentences. Knowing someone who has been convicted lower sentence length, but only for male 'judges'. Time of the day impacted sentence length with morning sentences on average the lowest. As our study was small and carried out on a non-representative sample, it can only be regarded as exploratory. Nevertheless, it reveals some interesting findings which warrant further study. Most notable is perhaps the role of gender: male and female judges were sensitive to different factors we manipulated. We end with recommendations for future research.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1993
The role of beliefs, personality variables, and demographic factors in the sentencing of juvenile offenders was investigated. The subjects (1,030 members of the juvenile justice system) judged hypothetical juvenile perpetrators. Various personality, belief, and demographic variables were found to be related to sentencing severity; these relationships differed based on the type of crime judged. Further, relations among these variables and sentencing behavior indicated three coherent patterns or resonances. A liberal group of individuals, believing in rehabilitation, external causality of crime, a positive prognosis for the perpetrator, and nontraditional views of women, sentenced moderately. Two types of conservative individuals were defined. Both groups were punitive, and believed in internal causality of crime; however, they differed on attitudes toward women, needs for cognition, and beliefs about seriousness and harm. One group sentenced the most severely and the other the most l...
Race and Justice, 2017
The current study adds to the literature examining the effects of race, ethnicity, gender, and age on sentencing decisions. The results indicate that Black and male defendants were more likely to be incarcerated in jail as opposed to receiving a probation sentence than White and female defendants. When race, ethnicity, and gender interactions were considered, it appeared that the race effect was driven by Black males’ reduced likelihood to receive probation as opposed to jail. Black females were the least likely to be jailed. Age interactions revealed that being young disadvantaged Black males but advantaged other groups. The decision to incarcerate a defendant in jail versus prison was not significantly influenced by race, ethnicity, or gender. When sentence length was examined, Black males received significantly shorter jail sentences than all groups except Black females. When age was considered, Hispanic defendants 30–39 received longer jail sentences than almost every group.