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"The Case for Discriminatory Sentencing: Why Identical Crimes May Deserve Different"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this interesting-looking new paper by Professors Alon Harel and Eyal Winter taking a law-and-econ perspective on sentencing disparity. Here is the abstract: The traditional premise of criminal law is that criminals who are convicted of similar crimes under similar circumstances ought to be subject to identical sentences. This article provides an efficiency-based rationale for discriminatory sentencing, i.e., establishes circumstances under which identical crimes ought to be subject to differential sentencing. We also establish the relevance of this finding to the practices of sentencing and, in particular, to the Sentencing Guidelines. Most significantly, we establish that the model can explain why celebrities, leaders, or recidivists ought to be subject to harsher sanctions than others...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 08, 2011 (boomark / email).