Handbook on Punishment Decisions

Jeffery T. Ulmer is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Associate Department Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University. His interests include courts and criminal sentencing, racial inequalities in criminal punishment, structural disadvantage and violence, religion and crime, symbolic interactionism, organizations, and the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. He is the author or co-author of several books and over 65 articles and book chapters. He received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Division on Corrections and Sentencing in 2012, and in 2006 (with Darrell Steffensmeier) won ASC’s Michael Hindelang Award for Outstanding Book for Confessions of a Dying Thief: Understanding Criminal Careers and Illegal Enterprise.Mindy S. Bradley is Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas. Her areas of research include: courts and sentencing, corrections, intersections of mental/behavioral health and justice systems, and deviance. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology and M.A. in Crime, Law, and Justice from Pennsylvania State University, and her B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of West Georgia. She was a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of Naked Lives: Inside the Worlds of Exotic Dance (SUNY Press) and co-editor (with Brent Teasdale) of Preventing Crime and Violence (Springer), the second volume of the Advances in Prevention Science series.

• Introduction (p. 1)Jeffery T. Ulmer and Mindy S. BradleyPart I: Policy Choices and Mass PunishmentChapter 1: What We Know, Do Not Know, and Need to Know About Sentencing and Mass Incarceration in the U.S. and What "Sentencing" Research Could Teach Us (p. 11) Rodney L. EngenChapter 2: Mass Probation and Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender Disparities in Supervision and Revocation (p. 43)Michelle S. Phelps Chapter 3: Sowing the Seeds of Future Justice System Disparities:" School Punishment and the School to Prison Pipeline (p. 67)Aaron Kupchik and Akilah AlleynePart II: Disparities in Pre-Conviction ProcessesChapter 4: Cumulative Disadvantage and the Geography of Racial Inequality in Criminal Punishment (p. 83)Marisa Omori and Rachel LautenschlagerChapter 5: Escape From Punishment: Exploring the Sealing of a Criminal Record and Potential Disparities in Its Application (p. 109)Megan C. Kurlychek and Heather M. WashingtonChapter 6: Discretion in the Absence of Guidelines: Charge Bargaining and Sentencing for Felony Defendants in New York (p. 133)Shi Yan, Shawn D. Bushway, and Allison D. RedlichChapter 7: Perspectives Informing Defense Attorney Effects on Criminal Case Outcomes (p. 153)John Wooldredge, James Frank, and Natalie Goulette Part III: Disparities in Punishment OutcomesChapter 8: Focal Concerns Theory as Conceptual Tool for Studying Intersectionality in Sentencing Disparities: Focus on Gender and Race Along with Age (p. 189)Darrell Steffensmeier and Noah Painter-Davis Chapter 9: Racial and Ethnic Disparities among Female Offenders Adjudicated in Federal Courts: Explicating the Patterns of Disparities Using a Path Model (p. 211)Cassia C. Spohn, Pauline K. Brennan, and Byungbae KimChapter 10: Studying Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing: The Importance of Refining Ethnic Minority Measures (p. 239)Hilde Wermink, Sigrid van Wingerden, Johan van Wilsem, and Paul NieuwbeertaChapter 11: The Relationship between the Gender of the Probation Officer and Judicial Sentencing: Implications for Black Male Offenders (p. 265)Michael J. Leiber, Jennifer H. Peck, Melanie Valentin Rosa, and Tayler ShreveChapter 12: Race, Facial Appearance, and the Focal Concerns of Sentencing (p. 291)Brian D. Johnson and Rebecca RichardsonChapter 13: Towards the Development of a Standardized Focal Concerns Theory of Sentencing (p. 311)Sean Maddan and Richard D. HartleyPart IV: Risk: Race, Age, and Social ClassChapter 14: Assessment of Offender Risk at Sentencing: A Potential for Disparity? (p. 339)Julia A. LaskorunskyChapter 15: Assessment Disparities After Federal Incarceration in Canada (p. 363)Rose Ricciardelli, Michael Adorjan, and James LantChapter 16: "Objects of Concern" or "Risky Young Offenders"? Assessment and Intervention With Children in the Public Care and Youth Justice Systems of England and Wales (p. 385)Jonathan Evans Index

'The nature of justice requires that systematic disparities in the delivery of punishment should be identified and condemned. This important new Handbook goes a crucial step further by also locating the sources of disparity in the hidden processes and policies of criminal justice agents and the legal system. This is essential reading for anyone concerned with making justice more just.' – Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology, University of Manchester'Jeffery Ulmer, leading scholar of disparities in punishment decisions, their structural, institutional, and policy contexts, joined forces with the excellent Mindy Bradley to bring together an exceptional group of contributors to this volume. Its publication is a defining moment. It will have consequences for the future of this field.' – Joachim J. Savelsberg, Professor of Sociology and Law, University of Minnesota