Sentencing Law, Policy, and Practice

Offers comprehensive, nuanced, and accessible coverage of sentencing law and policy. Topics include the purposes of punishment, constitutional limitations on punishment, sentencing guidelines, and the disparate treatment of defendants, as well as in-depth coverage of other critically important subjects.

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With guilt in the vast majority of criminal cases now resolved by guilty pleas, sentencing is a matter of surpassing importance in the American criminal process. Reflecting its significance, the sentencing phase has been buffeted by successive waves of reform efforts, complicating an already challenging topic for law students and instructors alike. Sentencing Law, Policy, and Practice covers this terrain in a manner that is comprehensive, nuanced, and accessible. Coverage includes core sentencing topics, such as the purposes of punishment, constitutional limitations on punishment, sentencing guidelines, and the disparate treatment of defendants, as well as in-depth coverage of other critically important subjects that often receive only glancing treatment in sentencing casebooks—community supervision, economic sanctions, capital punishment, and collateral consequences. The book takes a multi-disciplinary approach, frequently drawing upon cutting-edge legal and social science research, providing opportunities for students to analyze and discuss topics in new and often provocative ways. The text has sufficient breadth and depth for use in a three-credit course but is also readily adaptable for use in a two-credit format.