Sentencing Law and Policy

A leading text in criminal law, co-authored by leading scholars in the field,

Sentencing Law and Policy draws from extensive sources to present a

comprehensive overview of all aspects of criminal sentencing. Online

integration with sentencing commissions, thorough treatment of current case

law, and provocative notes and questions, stimulate students to consider

connections between disparate institutions and examine the purposes and

politics of the criminal justice system.

The Third Edition has been updated to include recent developments in

sentencing case law and provocative discussions of policy debates across a

wide range of topics, including discretion in sentencing, race, death penalty

abolition, state sentencing guidelines, second-look policies, the impact of

new technologies, drug courts and much more.

Features:

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Authors are among the leading sentencing scholars in the United States.

Demleitner and Berman are editors of the leading sentencing journal, Federal

Sentencing Reporter. Berman is the blog master of the leading sentencing blog,

with huge readership.

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Intuitive organization tracks the process that occurs in every criminal

sentencing.

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Each chapter draws on the most relevant examples from three distinct

sentencing worlds: guideline-determinate, indeterminate, and capital.

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Wide-ranging source materials, including:

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U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

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Cases from state high courts, federal appellate courts, and foreign

jurisdictions.

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Statutes and guidelines provisions.

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Reports and data from sentencing commissions and other agencies.

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Problems and questions in text are integrated with websites of sentencing

commissions, such as the site for the U.S. Sentencing Commissions

(www.ussc.gov).

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Challenging questions ask students to compare institutions and consider

the connections between specific sentencing rules and the purposes and

politics of criminal justice, emphasizing the effects of sentencing.

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Notes tell students directly what are the most common practices in U.S.

jurisdictions.

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Instructorsand#8217; website (www.sentencingbook.net) provides the

Teacherand#8217;s Manualand#8212;available only electronically on the siteand#8212; with additional

teaching materials to be posted as needed.

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Studentsand#8217; website (www.sentencingbook.com) features longer

collections of rules and guidelines, statutes, case studies, recent articles,

practice problems, sample exams, and a virtual library.

Thoroughly updated, the revised Third Edition includes:

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New Supreme Court cases, including Gall, Kimbrough, Padilla (6th

Amendment), and Kennedy (child rape sentencing limits).

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Policy debates over mass incarceration, the relevance of the budget crisis,

and the state-level variation in deincarceration.

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Shifting authority among key actors in the crack penalty/crack reform

debate, including the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA).

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Expanded core study of discretion in sentencing and attention to race in

sentencing, with a close study of the North Carolina Racial Justice Act

and the emergence of and#8220;racial impact statementsand#8221; about existing systems and

proposed legislation ina number of states.

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Death penalty abolition.

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Developments in state sentencing guidelines, noting stand-still in new

states, and the relevance of the ALI MPC project.

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Emergence of and#8220;second lookand#8221; policy discussions, the troubled

debate over the theory, operation and impact of parole systems, and the

and#8220;supervised releaseand#8221; that has come to replace traditional parole.

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Discussion of new technologies, developm