Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:07:28.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mandatory Sentencing and Firearms Violence: Evaluating an Alternative to Gun Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Colin Loftin ,
Milton Heumann  and
David McDowall
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Michigan's Felony Firearm Statute (Gun Law) imposed a two-year mandatory add-on sentence for defendants convicted of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The Law was widely advertised with proponents claiming that it would introduce greater equity in sentences, ensure certainty of punishment, and decrease violent crime in the state. We examine the processing of these Gun Law cases in Detroit Recorders Court, as well as the effects of the law on crime, and find that most of the goals of the Law's proponents are not met. Notwithstanding a rigid prosecutorial policy which prohibited plea bargaining in these gun cases, alternative mechanisms developed to mitigate the Law's effects and, in most instances, to preserve the “going rate” for various crime categories. Similarly, using an interrupted time-series model, we are unable to uncover effects of the law, or the associated publicity campaign, on violent crime.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 17 , Issue 2: Special Issue: Psychology and Law , 1983 , pp. 287 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

*

The research reported here was supported in part by grants 78-NI-AX-0021 and 79-NI-AX-0094 from the National Institute of Justice and T32-MH 14598-05 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Points of view or opinions stated are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

References

ALSCHULER, Albert W. (1978) “Sentencing Reform and Prosecutorial Power: A Critique of Recent Proposals for ‘Fixed’ and ‘Presumptive Sentencing’,” 126 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 550.Google Scholar
ANDENAES, Johannes (1974) Punishment and Deterrence. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK AND THE DRUG ABUSE COUNCIL, INC. (1978) The Nation's Toughest Drug Law: Evaluating the New York Experience. Final Report of the Joint Committee on New York Drug Law Evaluation. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
BOX, G.E.P. and G.M., JENKINS (1976) Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control. San Francisco: Holden-Day.Google Scholar
BOX, G.E.P. and G.C., TIAO (1975) “Intervention Analysis with Applications to Economic and Environmental Problems,” 70 Journal of the American Statistical Association 70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CAHALAN, William (1973) “Certainty of Punishment,” 51 Journal of Urban Law 163.Google Scholar
CAHALAN, William (1977a) “Flat or Mandatory Minimum Sentencing,” in Citizens Research Council of Michigan, Criminal Justice Issues: Sentencing Alternatives.Google Scholar
CAHALAN, William (1977b) Annual Report, Prosecuting Attorney, Wayne County. Detroit: Mimeographed.Google Scholar
CAHALAN, William (1981) Speech Given Before the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime, Detroit, Michigan (June 18, 1981).Google Scholar
CITY OF DETROIT, Department of Health (1974) Data Book. Detroit: Mimeographed.Google Scholar
COOK, Philip J. (1981) “The Effect of Gun Availability on Violent Crime Patterns,” 455 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 63.Google Scholar
COOK, Philip J. (1982) “The Role of Firearms in Violent Crime: An Interpretative Review of the Literature, With Some New Findings and Suggestions for Future Research,” in Wolfgang, Marvin and Weiner, David (eds.), Criminal Violence. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
COOK, Thomas D. and Donald T., CAMPBELL (1979) Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
EHRLICH, Isaac (1974) “Participation in Illegitimate Activities: An Economic Analysis,” in Becker, G.S. and Landes, W.M. (eds.), Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
EISENSTEIN, James and Herbert, JACOB (1977) Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Courts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (1974, 1976, 1977) Crime in the United States, Uniform Crime Reports. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
GOLDBERGER, Arthur S. (1964) Econometric Theory. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
HEUMANN, Milton and Colin, LOFTIN (1979) “Mandatory Sentencing and the Abolition of Plea Bargaining: The Michigan Felony Firearm Statute,” 13 Law and Society Review 393.Google Scholar
HIBBS, Douglas A. Jr. (1974) “Problems of Statistical Estimation and Causal Inference in Time Series Regression Models,” in Costner, H.L. (ed.), Sociological Methodology 1973-74. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
JOHNSTON, J. (1972) Econometric Methods (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
KMENTA, Jan (1971) Elements of Econometrics. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
LOFTIN, Colin and McDOWALL, David (1980) “‘One With a Gun Gets You Two’: Mandatory Sentencing and Firearms Offenses in Detroit.” Paper presented to the 75th Meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, N.Y. (August 25, 1980).Google Scholar
McDOWALL, David (1981) “‘One With a Gun Gets You Two’: Mandatory Sentencing and Firearms Violence in Detroit,” 455 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 150.Google Scholar
LUCAS, Charles E. and Anna M., LEDGERWOOD (1978) “Mandatory Incarceration for Convicted Armed Felons: A Trauma Prophylaxis,” 18 Journal of Trauma 291.Google Scholar
McCLEARY, Richard and M.C., MUSHENO (1981) “Floor Effects in Time Series Quasi-Experiments,” 7 Political Methodology 181.Google Scholar
McCLEARY, Richard, HAY, Richard A. Jr., MEIDINGER, Errol E., and McDOWALL, David (1980) Applied Time Series for the Social Sciences. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
PARKER, Robert Nash and M. Dwayne, SMITH (1979) “Deterrence, Poverty, and Type of Homicide,” 85 American Journal of Sociology 614.Google Scholar
PIERCE, Glenn L. and William J., BOWERS (1981) “The Bartley-Fox Law's Short-Term Impact on Crime in Boston,” 455 The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 120.Google Scholar
ROSSMAN, David, FROYD, Paul, PIERCE, Glen L., McDEVITT, John F., and William J., BOWERS (1979) “The Impact of the Mandatory Gun Law in Massachusetts,” National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
SHERRILL, Robert (1973) The Saturday Night Special. New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
TOBIN, James (1958) “Estimation of Relationships for Limited Dependent Variables,” 26 Econometrica 24.Google Scholar
TRAVIS, Lawrence III and O'LEARY, Vincent (1979) “Changes in Sentencing and Parole Decision Making: 1976-78,” National Parole Institutes and Parole Policy Seminars.Google Scholar
U. S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS (1976) Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1976. Washington, D.C: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U. S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS (1977) Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1977. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND WELFARE (1967) Eighth Revision, International Classification of Diseases, Volume 1. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
ZALMAN, Marvin (1977) “The Rise and Fall of the Indeterminate Sentence, Parts I, II,” 24 Wayne Law Review 45.Google Scholar
ZALMAN, Marvin “The Rise and Fall of the Indeterminate Sentence, Parts III, IV,” 24 Wayne Law Review 857.Google Scholar
ZIMRING, Franklin E. and Gordon J., HAWKINS (1973) Deterrence: The Legal Threat in Crime Control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
ZIMRING, Franklin (1977) “Making the Punishment Fit the Crime: A Consumer's Guide to Sentencing Reform,” Occasional Papers 3. Chicago: University of Chicago Law School.Google Scholar