Citation

Cohen BZ, Fishman G, Soroka J. J. Crim. Justice 1985; 13(2): 99-115.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(85)90059-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study focuses on a series of legal, extralegal, and systemic variables presumed to affect the workings of criminal-justice systems. These variables are employed first to analyze the decision of the court to refer defendants for pre-sentence investigation when such a referral is not mandatory, then to examine how these referrals, once made, influence disposition. The relationship of legal representation to disposition is also explored. The findings contradict conventional wisdom regarding the advantages to defendants of legal representation and of pre-sentence reports. Lawyers do not appear to influence either referral or sentencing. The pre-sentence reports are requested by judges seeking to individualize their sentencing decisions, but this process of individualization is as likely to result in harsher sentences as in greater leniency.