A Realist Evaluation Approach to Unpacking the Impacts of the Sentencing Guidelines

Author:

Hunt Kim Steven1,Sridharan Sanjeev2

Affiliation:

1. District of Columbia Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission,

2. Centre for Research on Inner City Health, St. Michaels Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract

Evaluations of complex interventions such as sentencing guidelines provide an opportunity to understand the mechanisms by which policies and programs can impact intermediate and long-term outcomes. There is limited previous discussion of the underlying frameworks by which sentencing guidelines can impact outcomes such as crime rates. Guided by a realist evaluation framework, this article examines the impact of linkages of sentencing policy to resource capacity—a cost-control paradigm under which a few states created guidelines to control rising prison populations and expenditures. Additionally, we argue that the moderating influence of this linkage will depend on the severity of the crime. A key conclusion is that in addition to social science theory, evaluation theory is needed to understand how programs work; there is a greater need for identifying conditions under which policies work or do not work. We find the realist approach as a promising approach to build such knowledge.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Strategy and Management,Sociology and Political Science,Education,Health(social science),Social Psychology,Business and International Management

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