Sentencing Guidelines in Practice: Criminal History, Departures, and Reform Impacts in Minnesota

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel brings together three presentations on studies conducted in collaboration with the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission as they undergo a comprehensive review of the guidelines. Together, the papers examine how criminal history and judicial departures from sentencing guidelines influence incarceration patterns, recidivism, and racial equity in sentencing. Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, Matt Kleiman, will share his commission's experience with the comprehensive review and lead discussion.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 46. Courts & Sentencing

Individual Presentations

• Rethinking Criminal History in Sentencing Guidelines: Reform Efforts in Minnesota and Pennsylvania - Kevin Reitz, University of Minnesota School of Law

• Understanding Sentencing Departures: Decision-Making Processes Across Offense Types in Minnesota - Julia Laskorunsky, Robina Institute, University of Minnesota Law School; Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota; Nick Dickens, University of Minnesota

• Sentencing Departures, Subsequent Crime, and Public Safety  - Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota; Nick Dickens, University of Minnesota; Julia Laskorunsky, Robina Institute, University of Minnesota Law School; Aaron Sojourner, Upjohn Institute

Discussant

• Matthew Kleiman, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

Organized by a Division or external group?

Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School