Mandatory sentencing guidelines: The framing of justice

Kramer asks why the sentencing reform movement has yielded such a small effect. He identifies several issues he believes help account for the limited amount of evidence that reforms have had an influence on sentencing practices to date. First, he suggests that sentencing disparity was not as extensive a problem as reform advocates led people to believe. Next, he identifies the importance and influence of court communities and the significance of contextual factors in influencing the implementation and application of sentencing guidelines. He points out that, in court communities, sentencing norms were already established in the form of "going rates" prior to the introduction of sentencing reforms such as guidelines. Finally, he recommends that sentencing guidelines reforms be evidence-based and that sentencing policies be carefully developed and grounded in evidence-based research.