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Sentencing

Sentencing decisions—from community orders in the UK to mental health courts, mandatory minimum sentences, and "three strikes" laws in the United States—are increasingly under the microscope to lower crime rates and reduce recidivism. RAND has conducted evaluations of specific sentencing and corrections policies since well before the first three-strikes laws passed in 1994, and has reported on the costs and benefits of various sentencing laws, including whether they do in fact reduce crime.

Commentary
Drug Dependence: Treatment Over Incarceration
Drug dependence imposes significant costs to society and traditional criminal justice responses like imprisonment do not reduce crime. More quality research on alternative sanctions could help police, prosecutors, and judges expand their options while helping users get treatment.
Oct 3, 2016
News Release
Frequent Alcohol Testing Combined with Swift, Certain and Modest Sanctions Is Associated with Drop in Mortality
An innovative program that requires alcohol-involved offenders to abstain from alcohol and submit to frequent tests was associated with a 4 percent drop in deaths. The associations were most evident among causes of death related to excessive alcohol use, such as circulatory conditions.
Feb 9, 2016
Commentary
Oregon Standoff Shouldn't Have an Anti-Terrorism Twist
Dwight and Steven Hammond were charged under a law enacted to fight terrorism, not rein in wayward ranchers. Anti-terrorist laws should not be used to strengthen prosecutors' hands in nonterrorist prosecutions—it makes national security needs look like an instrument of oppression.
Jan 13, 2016
Commentary
What's Next on the Convicted Terrorist's Timeline?
As inmates near the end of their sentences for terrorism-related offenses, and with some individuals already freed, it's time to explore what considerations may be necessary.
Nov 4, 2015
Commentary
Different Countries, Different Ways of Countering Terrorism
France and the United States follow different approaches in dealing with terrorist suspects. This divergence reflects differences in the threat, historical experience, law, available resources, and public attitudes. France faces a more serious terrorist threat than the U.S. does.
Mar 2, 2015
Commentary
California's Misguided Approach
Despite the frequency with which people are convicted of multiple DUI offenses, California continues to require that all individuals with a DUI attend a 30- or 60-hour education program. However, these programs aren't that effective.
Mar 17, 2014
Commentary
New Approach to Prison and the War on Drugs
If you want to reduce cocaine consumption and drug-related crime, you get more bang for the buck if you put money into treatment rather than paying for the increase in incarceration produced by federal mandatory minimum sentences, writes Beau Kilmer.
Aug 13, 2013
Commentary
Advancing Social Outcomes: Private Investors Could Be Part of the Solution
Under a Social Impact Bond, private investors — rather than the government — provide up-front funding for programs that tackle such challenges as recidivism or homelessness. If these programs succeed, the government pays some of the savings back to the investors.
May 14, 2013
Research Brief
An Innovative Way to Curb Problem Drinking: South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project
South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project, in which individuals with alcohol-involved offenses submit to breathalyzer tests twice per day or wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet at all times, reduced repeat DUI arrests at the county level by 12 percent.
Dec 12, 2012
Journal Article
Frequent Alcohol Testing Program Reduces DUI and Domestic Violence Arrests
In its first six years, an innovative alcohol monitoring program called the South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Project reduced county-level repeat DUI arrests by 12 percent and domestic violence arrests by 9 percent.
Dec 6, 2012
Commentary
A Final Word on the NDAA
While I have no doubt of Levin's determination to protect the constitutional rights of American citizens, incremental adjustments and seemingly small compromises, each sensible under the circumstances, can have a cumulative effect that erodes the very liberty we are trying to protect, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
May 7, 2012
Commentary
The NDAA Makes It Harder to Fight Terrorism
Much of the debate over this bill has focused on the political issue of executive authority versus rule of law. In doing so it has overlooked the indirect and insidious effects the new law may have on the United States' largely successful counterterrorist campaign, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.
Feb 1, 2012
Research Brief
Evaluation of the Social Impact Bond: Lessons from planning and early implementation at HMP Peterborough
RAND Europe has evaluated the world's first Social Impact Bond (SIB), an innovative payment-by-results mechanism to fund public services which aims to reduce reoffending by prisoners. This report presents the initial findings of the evaluation.
Dec 14, 2011
Report
Investing in Social Outcomes to Fund Public Services
At a time when government finances are stretched there is growing interest in finding new ways to fund public services. In 2010 the first ever Social Impact Bond was launched in the UK to provide investors who had funded government interventions for imprisoned offenders with a portion of the resultant savings.
Nov 4, 2011
Content
RAND Institute for Civil Justice
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ), a part of the Justice Policy program, conducts research on all aspects of civil justice, from trends in litigation and jury verdicts to punitive damages, compensation systems, and alternative dispute resolution. Directly or indirectly, civil justice issues have an impact on us all.
Oct 3, 2011
Report
A synthesis of literature on the effectiveness of community orders
The U.K. National Audit Office (NAO) commissioned RAND Europe to conduct this review to identify and synthesize international research about the effectiveness of community orders in reducing re-offending.
Jan 10, 2008
Dissertation
From the Outside In: Shaping the International Criminal Court
Assess current U.S. policy regarding the International Criminal Court and discusses the effectiveness of other, perhaps more robust, policies.
Aug 14, 2007
News Release
Mental Health Courts Have the Potential to Save Taxpayers Money, RAND Study for CSG Justice Center Finds
March 1, 2007 news release: Mental Health Courts Have the Potential to Save Taxpayers Money, RAND Study for CSG Justice Center Finds.
Mar 1, 2007
Report
Mental Health Courts Have the Potential to Save Taxpayers Money
Special courts that sentence people with mental illness who are convicted of misdemeanors and low-level felonies to treatment instead of jail have the potential to save taxpayers money.
Feb 22, 2007
Journal Article
The Efficacy of the Rio Hondo DUI Court: A 2-Year Field Experiment
This study reports results from an evaluation of the experimental Rio Hondo driving under the influence (DUI) court of Los Angeles County, California.
Jan 1, 2007

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RAND Topic:
Sentencing

Topic Synonyms:
Judgment;
Punishment

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