Title: Evidence-Based Sentencing: Public Openness and Opposition to Using Gender, Age, and Race as Risk Factors for Recidivism
Abstract: The incarceration of criminal offenders in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. One way to scale back the prison population is by using empirical risk assessment methods to apportion prison sentences based on the likelihood of the offender recidivating, so-called “evidence-based sentencing.” This practice has been denounced by some legal scholars, who claim that the use of certain empirically-relevant risk factors — including gender, age, and race — is plainly immoral. This study tested whether lay individuals share their sentiment. Over 600 participants weighted to be representative of the United States population were asked about the extent to which they would support imposing shorter sentences for old vs young offenders, female vs male offenders, and white vs black offenders, all else being equal. The results indicate that very few participants (
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-09-17
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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