1. Unusually Cruel, Part III
Feedback on our speaker from Monday, Marty Tankleff
Feedback on our guest lecturer from Monday, Marc Howard
Questions before we start?
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

2. Forms of sentencing used in the US, historically
Indeterminate
Determinate
Structured
Mandatory
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

3. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018
Drug sentencing
Portugal completely legalized after their dictatorship was replaced with a democracy in 1974
Several years of bad outcomes, basically lots of heroin addicts moved there, bad things occurred
After a period of settling down, crime is reduced, drug use is not on the rise, etc.
What SHOULD BE the penalty for:
Sale of drugs
Use of drugs
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

4. In every case: US>UK>F>D
What the heck? Why is the same crime punished more?
Also, a historical trend in the US from lower to harsher punishments, for the same crime.
Drugs in particular.
Explanations?
Racial diversity? Othering?
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

5. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018
Prison conditions
US: Overcrowding, violence, etc.
US: Solitary confinement routinely used as punishment / control
(See today’s New York Times for a case from Mississippi
abuse.html
How does this compare to the other systems?
Why is this?
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

6. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018
Rehabilitation
The 1974 Martinson Report
It’s huge impact, coming at a time when the audience was ready to “throw away the key”
It’s retraction was never noticed.
Re-offending rates increasing in the US
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

7. Comparative Perspectives on Rehabilitation
France: home visits for 3-10 days
Look for a job before release
Family illness / death
Maintain social connection
Germany: No short prison terms at all (< 6 months; community service / probation)
Job training / individualized re-integration plan
UK: in between US and Continental model
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

8. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018
Parole
US in the 1970s, 70% of all released from prison were on parole
Today: typical release is expiration of sentence
See Figure 6.4, wow.
Reasons for decline in parole: mandatory sentencing, change in nature of parole boards, increasingly violent and overcrowded prisons (makes inmates less likely to take advantage of parole), politics of parole, growth in long sentences w/o parole
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

9. Early release in other countries
France:
Conditional liberty (ankle bracelet, regular meetings with officials…)
Reduction of penalty (after ½ of time served, regular meetings to show one has a plan to re-integrate, inmate (and lawyer) make the case they have paid their debt and are ready to be productive)
Compassionate release (e.g., age, illness)
Germany:
Eligible for release after 2/3 of sentence served; first-time offenders ½ of sentence; juveniles 1/3 time; life means 15 years, discretionary release… UK
Similar to Germany on this question
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

10. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018
Social Re-entry
What are / should be the restrictions on:
Voting
Employment (child sex offenders can’t work at a day care; financial fraudsters can no longer be accountants…)
Housing
No restrictions even while in prison (Maine, Vermont)
Rights immediately restored on release from prison (14 states)
Restored after parole completed (4 states)
Excluded for those on felony probation (even if not incarcerated) (18 states)
Even longer restrictions, post-incarceration, including lifetime bans (12 states)
Number excluded from voting: <1.2m in 1976; > 6m in the 2016 presidential election
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018

11. Let’s explain these differences
Race
Religion
Politics
Business
Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2018