Book Reviews : Sentencing: The Decision as to Type, Length, and Conditions of Sentence. By ROBERT O. DAWSON. The Report of the American Bar Foundation's Survey of the Administration of Criminal Justice in the United States. Frank J. Remington, Ed. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969. Pp. xxxii, 428. $12.50.) Sentencing in a Rational Society. By NIGEL WALKER (New York: Basic Books, 1971. Pp. xii, 239. $6.95.)

AuthorSamuel S. Kushner
Date01 December 1971
DOI10.1177/106591297102400420
Published date01 December 1971
Subject MatterArticles
817
Pocock’s
paradigms
appear
to
exist
in
principle
but
they
are
not
empirically
substantial
without
something
else
to
legitimize
them.
Pocock
has
drawn
some
major
streams
of
social
thought
together
artifully
and
well,
and
his
book
will
be
read
with
interest
and
approval.
But
I
have
thought
it
well
to
post
these
notices
regarding
language
and
time.
University
of
California,
Santa
Barbara
RICHARD
FITCHEN
Sentencing:
The
Decision
as
to
Type,
Length,
and
Conditions
of
Sentence.
By
ROBERT
O.
DAWSON.
The
Report
of
the
American
Bar
Foundation’s
Survey
of
the
Administration
of
Criminal
Justice
in
the
United
States.
Frank
J.
Remington,
Ed.
(Boston:
Little,
Brown
and
Company,
1969.
Pp.
xxxii,
428.
$12.50.)
Sentencing
in
a
Rational
Society.
By
NIGEL
WALKER
(New
York:
Basic
Books,
1971.
Pp.
xii,
239.
$6.95.)
Robert
O.
Dawson’s
volume
completes
the
American
Bar
Foundation’s
Administration
of
Criminal
Justice
Series
and
like
its
predecessors
is
an
insightful
contribution
to
the
literature
of
the
decision-making
process.
Sentencing,
accord-
ing
to
Dawson,
is
not
the
final
stage
in
the
criminal
process,
but
only
the
beginning
of
a
series
of
stages
of
criminal
justice
administration
-
a
process
involving
a
number
of
interrelated
decisions
spanning
several
years
involving
a
number
of
different
decision-makers.
The
principle
focus
is
upon
the
exercise
of
discretionary
power
in
the
process,
and
the
means
of
control
to
insure
against
abuse.
The
exercise
of
discretion
is
not
seen
as
necessarily
ensuring
the
capriciousness
of
the
correctional
process,
however,
the
traditional
legislative
avoidance
of
regulation
in
the
field
has
produced
decision-
makers
with
wide
discretionary
power
and
little
in
the
way
of
standards
for
guid-
ance
and
control.
There
are
many
avenues
which
may
be
taken
in
order
to
correct
overbroad
discretionary
powers.
Dawson
believes
that
while
legislative
controls
have
received
the
most
attention,
inquiry
is
needed
into
administrative
controls,
some
of
which
are
there
but
not
used
or are
too
weak
to
be
effective.
Dividing
the
subject
into
four
parts,
the
author
deals
in
turn
with
presentence
information,
the
probation
system,
the
length
of
incarceration,
and
the
relationship
between
the
correctional
process
and
the
legal
system.
Based
in
large
part
upon
studies
in
Michigan
and
Wisconsin,
the
author
juxtaposes
theory
and
practice,
comparing
the
Model
Penal
Code
with
ongoing
correctional
procedures.
He
con-
cludes
that
some
changes
in
the
correctional
process
are
in
order,
primarily
in
focus.
It
is
suggested
that
the
orientation
should
be
away
from
institutional-based
control
and
toward
community-based
correctional
programs,
for
after
all
is
said
and
done,
the
problem
always
returns
to
the
community,
as
recent
events
in
California
prisons
might
suggest.
Nigel
Walker
writes,
he
says,
for
a
particular
sort
of
society.
Aside
from
being
relatively
peaceful
and
affluent,
it is
above
all
else
aspiring
to
rationality.
Ration-

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