Contemporary research on criminal sentencing has analyzed sentencing under numerous sentencing policies, yet the effect of
sentencing policy on outcomes and disparity is not known. A variety of sentencing guidelines systems, one of the more common
sentencing policies, exists throughout the country. In addition, recent Supreme Court decisions regarding sentencing guidelines
are likely to produce
... [Show full abstract] alterations to several state sentencing policies over the next few years. Using data from the state
of Florida, the current study examines the effects of policy transformation on sentencing disparity within the focal concerns
of sentencing perspective. The authors view sentencing guidelines as a practical constraint on sentencing decisions that influence
other key variables. The results indicate that sentencing policy transformation has an important effect on both sentencing
decisions and on the factors that shape those decisions. The findings suggest that future sentencing research and theoretical
development would benefit from incorporating measures of policy differences in its analyses.
