The focal concerns of sentencing and mandatory sentencing laws: circumvention in the context of mandatory probation and treatment

Abstract

This study examines courtroom actors' motivations for circumventing Kansas' Senate Bill 123, which created a mandatory probation/treatment sentence for felony drug possession. Building on the focal concerns perspective, the study explores whether the focal concerns traditionally expressed in sentencing decisions – defendant blameworthiness and dangerousness – applied in the context of a mandatory probation/treatment law. Relying on a qualitative approach, involving semi-structured interviews with 60 judges, prosecutors, and public defenders from across Kansas, we find that courtroom actors expressed little outward concern for traditional focal concerns of defendant blameworthiness or dangerousness in circumventing the mandatory probation/treatment law. The more prevalent motivations for circumvention focused on concerns regarding offenders' treatment need/amenability and the efficacy of supervision/treatment regimes. We argue that the orientation of the law – focused on increasing access to treatment and reducing substance abuse – triggered a shift in the focal concerns of sentencing away from concerns over blameworthiness/dangerousness and toward concerns over treatment need/amenability.

Keywords::

• sentencing
• focal concerns
• circumvention
• mandatory sentencing

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice (grant # 2006-IJ-CX-4032).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Don Stemen

Don Stemen is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Loyola University Chicago. His research explores the innovation and diffusion of sentencing and corrections policies in the United States and the impact of criminal justice policies at the state and local level.

Andres F. Rengifo

Andres F. Rengifo is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. His current research focuses on the macro-level intersection between sentencing policies and imprisonment and the dynamics of organizational change in correctional institutions.

Ethan Amidon

Ethan Amidon is a PhD student in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri St. Louis.