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Felony Sentencing in Rural and Urban Courts: Comparing Formal Legal and Substantive Political Models in the WestVictoria A. SpringerUniversity of Nevada, Reno Janice RussellUniversity of Nevada, Reno - The Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies Matthew C LeoneUniversity of Nevada, Reno; University of Nevada, Reno - The Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies James T. RichardsonUniversity of Nevada, Reno - The Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies July 3, 2009 Abstract: This study explored two models of sentencing in urban and rural districts in Nevada (2007 felony sentencing data, N=10,873). It was hypothesized that sentence lengths and dispositions would differ between rural and urban districts. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that urban districts would follow a formal legal model – in which only legal variables (crime features, criminal history) act as predictors of sentencing outcomes, whereas rural districts would follow a substantive political model – in which extralegal factors (age, sex, race / ethnicity, etc.) also predict sentencing outcomes. The authors found that urban and rural districts in Nevada conformed to a substantive political model of sentencing (including both legal and extralegal factors), though legal factors were often the strongest predictors of sentencing outcomes.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 34 Keywords: sentencing, rural, urban, formal legal model, substantive political model JEL Classification: K1, K14 working papers seriesDate posted: August 2, 2009Suggested CitationContact Information
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