Illogical variations in sentences of felons committed to Massachusetts state prison

Abstract

The protection of society has long been accepted as a proper aim in the sentencing of criminals to penal correctional institutions, however, certain illogical variations in Massachusetts State Prison sentences have aroused the suspicion that our present sentencing practice may not be wholly consistent with this aim. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken to determine as precisely as possible whether, over a five-year period, each Massachusetts State prison sentence based upon and was consistent with a complete, well-verified account of an offender's social history or whether it was basad upon the "hunch" method or some other illogical system in complete violation of the principle of social protection.