Sentencing Law and Policy

Renting vs. Buying This Textbook

Renting is usually cheapest if you only need the book for one term: you return it with a free prepaid label when the term ends. Buying used can beat renting when the sell-back price is high, so compare the sell-back price with the rental price before you decide. An eTextbook arrives instantly but usually expires. Rentals and used copies rarely include working access codes.

Always match the ISBN on your syllabus (9781609302962) before you order; different editions have different ISBNs.

About This Book

This casebook provides a broad overview of sentencing policy in the United States, examining both the specific legal rules and the wider implications of punishment on offenders and communities. Unlike the competing books, it adopts an institutional, social scientific perspective. A defining aspect of sentencing law in the US is that there isn't all that much "law". The various actors (police, prosecutors, judges, etc.) have wide discretion, and sentencing outcomes are frequently driven by the often competing interests of these agencies. This casebook puts these institutional interactions at the forefront, and it pushes students to think carefully about the critical role they play in shaping outcomes. It also takes advantage of the author's training as an empirical economist to incorporate (in plain English!) the latest cutting-edge social scientific evidence on why we punish, and on the…