Balancing the Scales

About this book

Balancing the Scales: Understanding Criminal Sentencing offers a clear-eyed tour of one of the most consequential decisions in the justice system. Lisa Stolzenberg and Stewart J. D'Alessio explain how sentencing frameworks evolved, how judges exercise discretion within them, and how factors such as race, gender, and jurisdiction shape outcomes. The book surveys the empirical literature on determinate and indeterminate sentencing, mandatory minimums, sentencing commissions, and alternatives to incarceration, giving readers the tools to evaluate reform proposals on their merits rather than their rhetoric.