Abstract
In this paper, I present a novel formal Index (the Stringency of Sentencing Policy (SSP) Index) that measures for the first time the relative punitiveness of a country’s body of criminal sentencing policies without conflating this concept with sentencing practice. Scholars have been trying to identify the factors that have caused incarceration rates to skyrocket in many countries for decades, and it is clear that a country’s “sentencing environment” (meaning both sentencing policy (e.g. criminal statutes) and sentencing practice (the actual sentencing decisions of sentencing bodies)) contribute directly to prison population rates. However, this literature often conflates the concepts of sentencing policy and sentencing practice. This prevents sufficient analysis of the reasons why stricter policies are adopted, and leads to misinterpretation of the actual severity of the legislation in place. The SSP Index overcomes this shortcoming by measuring the severity of the national criminal sentencing policies in place at one point in time without relying on sentencing outcomes to do so. This new Index is applied to the United States and Ireland in this paper, but can be applied to any country with criminal sentencing statutes in place. Validation and reliability tests demonstrate the Index’s ability to measure the real variation in the strictness of criminal sentencing legislation over time. This SSP Index constitutes a new tool for researchers of comparative public policy and criminal law, and its creation is part of a larger research project studying the conditions under which stricter sentencing policies are passed into law.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Political Science, Comparative Public Policy, Law, Judicial Politics, Criminal Law
