Focal Concerns and Youth Sentencing

• In Event: Judicial Discretion in the Sentencing Process 2

Abstract

The focal concerns framework is frequently used to explain racial disparities in sentencing, however, few scholars have directly measured its empirical validity or considered how the relevant law works with its framework to shape judicial sentencing practices. In this paper, we use focal concerns to study judicial discretion in 189 sentencing decisions, exploring the research question: does the focal concerns of blameworthiness, community protection, and redeemability relate to judges’ decision to order a youth to custody and the length of custody given to youth? Our analysis of judgments finds both redeemability and dangerousness are significant predictors of judges’ decision to order custody, but when Indigenous youth are considered on their own, only dangerousness remains as a significant predictor of a custodial sanction. In terms of how focal concerns relate to the length of custodial sentences, we find the focal concerns of redeemability and dangerousness both predict custodial length, as well as the length of non-custodial sentences. Together, these analyses provide support for existing studies that explain judicial discretion with the focal concerns framework, while providing new insights on the role of judicial discretion in the disparate rates of Indigenous youth serving custodial sentences. At the same time, we operationalize the law within the focal concerns framework enabling future studies to use it to study judicial discretion directly.

Authors

• Helene Love, Simon Fraser University

• Stephanie Ann Wiley, University of Oregon