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There is a debate about whether advisory non-binding sentencing guidelines affect the sentences outcomes of individuals convicted in jurisdictions with this sentencing framework. Identifying the impact of sentencing guidelines is a difficult empirical problem because court actors may have preferences for sentencing severity that are correlated with the preferences that are outlined in the guidelines. But, in Maryland, ten percent of the recommended sentences computed in the guideline worksheets contain calculation errors. We use this unique source of quasi-experimental variation to quantify the extent to which sentencing guidelines influence policy outcomes. Among drug offenses, we find that the direct impact of the guidelines is roughly ½ the size of the overall correlation between recommendations and outcomes. For violent offenses, we find the same ½ discount for sentence recommendations that are higher than they should have been, but more responsiveness to recommendations that are too low. We find no evidence that the guidelines themselves directly affect discretion for property offenders, perhaps because judges generally have substantial experience with property cases and therefore do not rely on the errant information. Sentences are more sensitive to both accurate and inaccurate recommendations for crimes that occur less frequently and have more complicated sentencing. This suggests that when the court has more experience, the recommendations have less influence. More tentative findings suggest that, further down the decision chain, parole boards counteract the remaining influence of the guidelines.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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There is a debate about whether advisory non-binding sentencing guidelines affect the sentences outcomes of individuals convicted in jurisdictions with this sentencing framework. Identifying the impact of sentencing guidelines is a difficult empirical problem because court actors may have preferences for sentencing severity that are correlated with the preferences that are outlined in the guidelines. But, in Maryland, ten percent of the recommended sentences computed in the guideline worksheets contain calculation errors. We use this unique source of quasi-experimental variation to quantify the extent to which sentencing guidelines influence policy outcomes. Among drug offenses, we find that the direct impact of the guidelines is roughly ½ the size of the overall correlation between recommendations and outcomes. For violent offenses, we find the same ½ discount for sentence recommendations that are higher than they should have been, but more responsiveness to recommendations that are too low. We find no evidence that the guidelines themselves directly affect discretion for property offenders, perhaps because judges generally have substantial experience with property cases and therefore do not rely on the errant information. Sentences are more sensitive to both accurate and inaccurate recommendations for crimes that occur less frequently and have more complicated sentencing. This suggests that when the court has more experience, the recommendations have less influence. More tentative findings suggest that, further down the decision chain, parole boards counteract the remaining influence of the guidelines.

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The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is the federal agency responsible for conducting the background investigations and personnel vetting for 95 percent of the federal workforce, including current and prospective federal government employees and contractors. DCSA collects relevant criminal history record information (CHRI) as part of these investigations from federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. SLTT organizations, however, are often unaware of DCSA's role, responsibilities, and authorities and unaccustomed to CHRI collection and federal background investigations generally. This lack of awareness can impede or delay DCSA's collection of CHRI. In turn, it can slow the investigation and vetting process for federal employees and contractors. To help address this challenge, Congress authorized DCSA to provide training and education assistance to SLTT communities in 2020 to streamline and improve access to historical criminal record data. DCSA then requested assistance from the RAND Corporation's National Defense Research Institute with developing educational and training materials to use in support of these activities. The objective of these materials is to develop and deepen SLTT agencies' knowledge and understanding of their federal statutory obligations to share CHRI with DCSA and to facilitate more effective and efficient CHRI sharing. The intent of these materials is to help create a more robust partnership between DCSA and the more than 18,000 law enforcement and criminal justice agencies nationwide. This report presents these materials and the underlying research conducted to build them.

Criminal records --- Employee screening --- Access control --- United States. --- United States --- Officials and employees --- Selection and appointment.