How Do Judges Decide? 2/e

Cassia Spohn is School Director and Foundation Professor of Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. She is the author of several books, including The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America (with Sam Walker and Miriam DeLone) and How Do Judges Decide? The Search for Fairness and Equity in Sentencing. She has published a number of articles examining prosecutors' charging decisions in sexual assault cases and exploring the effect of race/ethnicity on charging and sentencing decisions. Her current research interests include the effect of race and gender on court processing decisions, victim characteristics and case outcomes in sexual assault cases, judicial decision making, sentencing of drug offenders, and the deterrent effect of imprisonment. In 1999, she was awarded the University of Nebraska Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award.

CHAPTER 1: THE GOALS OF SENTENCING Why Punish? How Much To Punish? Theories of Punishment and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Conclusion CHAPTER TWO: THE SENTENCING PROCESS The Judge's Options at Sentencing Sentencing as a Collaborative Exercise The Sentencing Process CHAPTER 3: HOW DO JUDGES DECIDE? Modeling the Sentencing Process Sentencing and Case Attributes Sentencing and Characteristics of the Judge How do Judges Decide? CHAPTER 4: SENTENCING DISPARITY AND DISCRIMINATION: A FOCUS ON GENDER Types of Sentencing Discrimination Gender Disparity in Sentencing Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing CHAPTER 5: SENTENCING DISPARITY AND DISCRIMINATION: A FOCUS ON RACE/ETHNICITY Racial Disparity in Sentencing Race and Judges' Sentencing Decisions Race and the Death Penalty: A Failed Experiment? Justice From the Bench? CHAPTER 6: THE SENTENCING REFORM MOVEMENT Structured Sentencing Reforms Presumptive Sentencing Guidelines Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes Three-Strikes-and-You're Out Laws Truth in Sentencing Laws Three Decades of Reform CHAPTER 7: THE IMPACT OF SENTENCING REFORMS Have Sentencing Reforms Led to More Punitive Sentences? Have Sentencing Reforms Led to a Reduction in Crime? Have Sentencing Reforms Reduced Disparity and Discrimination? Assessing the Impact of the Sentencing Reform Movement

"It is the most comprehensive analysis of sentencing practices in the United States in general, and of how judges decide in particular. It provides ample statistics of the realities of punishment and provides readers with the conclusions from several decades of research investigating judicial discretion." -- Richard D. Hartley