Review by Choice Review
An important empirical study of criminal sentencing practices. It focuses on two attributes of a sample of offenders sentenced in Georgia between 1976 and 1985: race and type of offense. Myers and Talarico sought to determine how sentences in terms of these attributes were influenced by the larger social contexts of community, court organization, and time. They relied almost exclusively on quantitative data from the Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia Official and Statistical record, the US census, and questionnaires. The study encounters the usual problems of using data from other sources, but the authors were keenly aware of these limitations and sought to minimize their impact. In demonstrating the superiority of interactive over additive analytic techniques, they generated numerous findings at odds with those in the existing literature on criminal sentencing. Myers and Talarico chose not to test a particular theory, but to demonstrate how their findings relate to the suppositions of several prominent theoretical views (e.g., conflict and consensus, urbanization, and bureaucratic organization). The study is well grounded in the literature, systematically organized, and highly readable even for those not very familiar with the methodological procedures that guide the research. Tables are used judiciously. Recommended for all interested in research on sentencing at the upper-division undergraduate level and above.-J.A. Black, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
