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105 Colum. L. Rev. 959 (2005)
When Process Affects Punishment: Differences in Sentences after Guilty Plea, Bench Trial, and Jury Trial in Five Guidelines States

handle is hein.journals/clr105 and id is 1003 raw text is: PANEL ONE: PROSECUTORIAL
DISCRETION AND ITS CHALLENGES
WHEN PROCESS AFFECTS PUNISHMENT: DIFFERENCES
IN SENTENCES AFTER GUILTY PLEA, BENCH TRIAL,
AND JURY TRIAL IN FIVE GUIDELINES STATES
Nancy J. King,* David A. Soul,** Sara Steen,*** & Robert R. Weidner****
The research reported in this Essay examines process discounts-differ-
ences in sentences imposed for the same offense, depending upon whether the
conviction was by jury trial, bench trial, or guilty plea-in five states that
use judicial sentencing guidelines. Few guidelines systems expressly recognize
plea agreement as an acceptable basis for departure, and none authorizes
judges to vary sentences based upon whether or not the defendant waived his
right to a jury trial and opted for a bench trial. Nevertheless, we predicted
that because of the cost savings resulting from waivers, judges and prosecu-
tors in any sentencing system would ensure that guilty plea convictions
would generate the lowest sentences, with bench trial sentences averaging
higher than plea-based sentences for the same offense, and sentences following
jury trials averaging the highest of all, even after controlling for other factors
associated with sentence severity. We found that a significant plea discount
is evident for most offenses in all five states. Waiving a jury in favor of a
bench trial has less consistent punishment consequences. Among states and
even within a single state, the prevalence of process discounts is extraordina-
rily varied, as are the causes and methods of discounting. The Essay ex-
plores how these findings might inform sentencing reform and discusses the
use of bench trials in sentencing guidelines systems generally.
INTRODUCTION .................................................. 960
I. PROCESS DISCOUNTS-PERVASIVE BUT IGNORED ............. .962
II.  STUDY  D ESIGN  ............................................  968
III. FINDINGS ................................................     973
IV.  DISCUSSION  ..............................................    975
* Lee S. & Charles A. Speir Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University Law School.
** Executive Director, Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy.
*** Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Colorado.
**** Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology Department, University of
Minnesota Duluth. The authors extend special thanks to Professor Jeffrey Ulmer for
providing expert analysis of Pennsylvania's sentencing data and to Terry Adams for his
skilled assistance with data from Kansas. We are grateful to the dozens of individuals who
so generously took the time to discuss their experiences in interviews. Also, thanks to
Barbara Tombs, Professors Kevin Reitz and Richard Frase, and the staff at the sentencing
commissions in Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Finally, this
research would not have been possible without research support by the Vanderbilt
University Law School.

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