Almost everyone agrees-Right on Crime, the ACLU, Koch Industries, George Soros's Open
Society Foundation, the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal …

The subject matter of this book—the 'desert model'for criminal sentencing—is one on which I
have written extensively over several decades. The model places primary emphasis, in …

For most of the 20th Century, sentencing purposes and procedures were virtually the same
in all American jurisdictions. The primary sentencing goal was rehabilitation, to be …

Predictions of dangerousness are more often wrong than right, use information they
shouldn't, and disproportionately damage minority offenders. Forty years ago, two-thirds of …

The consequences of a person's prior crimes remain after the debt to society is paid and the
sentence is discharged. While the practice of using prior convictions to enhance the severity …

American sentencing laws are rigid, harsh, and often unjust. Mass incarceration is a tragedy
and a national embarrassment. Laws enacted in the 1980s and 1990s that mandated …

A new conception of justice in punishment is needed that is premised on respect for
offenders' human dignity. It needs to acknowledge retributive and utilitarian values and …

Punishment policies and practices in the United States today are unprincipled, chaotic, and
much too often unjust. The financial costs are enormous. The moral cost is greater: countless …

An individual's prior record can have a pronounced impact on the punishment he or she
receives for a new offense, substantially increasing the likelihood and duration of an …

Concern for equality and human dignity is largely absent from American sentencing. Prison
sentences are imposed much more often than in any other Western country. Prison terms …