Reconsidering Indeterminate and Structured Sentencing

Reconsidering Indeterminate and Structured Sentencing presents an overview of the state of indeterminate and comprehensive structured sentencing in America and elaborates the contrasts between them. This NIJ Research in Brief, the second of four related policy briefs from the Executive Sessions on Sentencing and Corrections that distill what has been learned from the sessions, describes the structure of sentencing and corrections in the States and how the States organize corrections. The origins and characteristics of both indeterminate and structured sentencing are explored, as are the positive attributes and disadvantages of both approaches; the compatibility of indeterminate sentencing with community/restorative and risk-based sentencing; and worrisome issues that comprehensive structured sentencing raises.