Legal and Extra-Legal Factors Related to the Imposition of Blended Sentences

• Author: Joe M. Brown,Jon R. Sorensen
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Date: 01 March 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0887403412465431
• Subject Matter: Articles

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2014, Vol. 25(2) 227 –241

© 2012 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403412465431

http://cjp.sagepub.com

465431CJP25210.1177/0887403412465431Crimi

nal Justice Policy ReviewBrown and Sorensen

1Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC, USA

2East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Joe M. Brown, Fayetteville State University, Department of Criminal Justice, 1200 Murchison Road,

Newbold Station, Fayetteville, NC 28301-4252, USA.

Email: jbrown25@uncfsu.edu

Legal and Extra-Legal

Factors Related to the

Imposition of Blended

Sentences

Joe M. Brown1 and Jon R. Sorensen2

Abstract

This study sought to determine whether legal and extra-legal factors such as type and

severity of offense, prior criminal history, age, gender, and race influence decision

making in juvenile court. Specifically, the study focused on the imposition of a blended,

“determinate” sentence rather than a traditional indeterminate sentence, controlling

for adult court transfers. Data for this study were obtained from the largest county

in the state of Texas. The results indicated that juveniles sentenced to a blended

sentence had committed more serious offenses than those sentenced to traditional

indeterminate sentences. Unlike with transfers to adult court, however, minority

juveniles (Black and Hispanic) were no more likely than non-Hispanic White youth

to receive a blended sentence. Although findings from the current study generally

support the imposition of blended sentences, the true test of their utility lies further

downstream in the implementation process.

Keywords

juvenile waivers, juvenile justice, race, sentencing disparity

During the 1980s and 1990s, cases involving juveniles who committed violent crimes

contributed to society’s view that juvenile crime was out of control and on the rise

(Howell, Krisberg, Hawkins, & Wilson, 1995; Redding, 2003; Snyder & Sickmund,

1995). Many state legislators responded to this real or perceived problem by making

Article