The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing explores one of the most consequential and contested decision-points in the criminal justice system: whether and how to punish those convicted of crimes. During this period of political polarization, declining trust in institutions, and concerns about the treatment of immigrants in the United States and elsewhere, longstanding sentencing practices are being questioned and reforms are afoot. This volume examines how sentencing policies and practices have evolved, and crucially, where they might go next.
Drawing on the insights of leading scholars, the Handbook situates contemporary sentencing within a broader historical and social context. It traces the policies that gave rise to mass incarceration, the shifting philosophies behind punishment, and the consequences of punitive sentencing. From the enduring legacies of the war on drugs to the rise of "crimmigration" and the lessons from COVID-19's shock to the courts, the volume looks at the forces that influence sentencing decisions and the policy levers available to reformers.
This volume also confronts the longstanding inequalities associated with sentencing practices, including racial and citizenship-based disparities. It examines how decisions made at various stages of the criminal justice process - from legislation to charging to parole - contribute to disparities. Some chapters identify opportunities for reform, offering insights for a sentencing paradigm that balances crime control, due process, and equality.
The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing explores one of the most consequential and contested decision-points in the criminal justice system: whether and how to punish those convicted of crimes. During this period of political polarization, declining trust in institutions, and concerns about the treatment of immigrants in the United States and elsewhere, longstanding sentencing practices are being questioned and reforms are afoot. This volume examines how sentencing policies and practices have evolved, and crucially, where they might go next.
Ryan D King and Michael T Light: Introduction: Sentencing in Uncertain
Times
Part I. The Punitive Era in Context
1: Nancy Gertner: A History of American Sentencing
2: Todd R Clear: Just Let 'Em Out
3: Tapio Lappi-Seppälä: U.S. Incarceration and Sentencing in Comparative
Perspective
Part II. Consequences of Sentencing Policy and Practice
4: Derek Neal and Armin Rick: The Role of Policy in Prison Growth and
Decline
5: Cheryl Marie Webster: Some Things Never Change: Revisiting the Empirical
Evidence on the Effectiveness of the "Deterrence through Severity" Model in
Reducing Crime
6: Amanda Geller and P'trice Jones: Downstream Consequences: The Children of
the Prison Boom
Part III. Case Processing
7: Carissa Byrne Hessick: Prosecutorial Discretion and Sentencing
8: Nick Petersen and Stacie St. Louis: The Pre-trial Detention and Punishment
Nexus: Reforms to Address the Immediate Pains and Downstream Consequences of
Detention
9: Rhys Hester: Does Criminal History Count Too Much in Sentencing
Decisions?
10: Kristen Bell: Legality, Dignity, and Discretion: An Argument to
(Re)Structure Parole-Release Decisions
Part IV. Racial Disparities and Inequalities
11: Michael Javen Fortner and Cameron Stevens: Race, Crime, and the Prison
Buildup
12: Brian D Johnson and Sean Houlihan: The Shifting Color Line: Skin Tone
Stratification and Criminal Legal Outcomes
13: Mona Lynch: Prosecutors and the Production of Racial Inequality in
Sentencing
14: Jeffery T Ulmer: Inequalities in the Death Penalty: Race, Victims, and
Geographic Arbitrariness
15: Sandra Susan Smith and Felix Owusu: From Racialized Punishment to Care
and Accountability: Reimagining Justice through a Historically Informed,
Racial Equity Lens
Part V. Sentencing Immigrants and Noncitizens
16: Ingrid V Eagly: Punishing Immigration
17: Michael T Light and Avery Warner: Immigration Federalism and Noncitizen
Punishment Inequality
18: Maartje van der Woude and Vanessa Barker: Punishing Mobility in Europe
Part VI. Sentencing and the Possibility of Reform
19: Richard S Frase: After 40 Years of Sentencing Guidelines, Should There be
40 More?
20: Benjamin Levin: "Progressive" Prosecutors and "Proper" Punishments
21: Cecelia Klingele: Assessing the Early Influence of the Model Penal Code's
Revised Sentencing Provisions
22: Sema A Taheri and Robert Hutchison: Sentencing Information Systems
23: Douglas A Berman: Legalization and Decriminalization of Drugs: Starting
the Next Sentencing Revolution?
24: Tatjana Hörnle: Sentencing in Europe: What Lessons Can We Draw?
Ryan D. King is Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on criminal law and intergroup conflict, with an emphasis on hate crimes and sentencing. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, and other agencies and foundations.
Michael T. Light is Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds degrees in Sociology and Criminology from Penn State University. His research focuses on crime, punishment, and immigration. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, the Russell Sage Foundation, and other agencies.
