The Role of Appellate Courts in Sentencing Decisions

州法院的上诉程序总体上令人遗憾， 作为社会科学研究的一个领域被忽视了。 他们一直 特别是在刑事上诉方面被忽视，这是一个至关重要的领域， 鉴于改革的浪潮席卷了罪犯， 在过去的几年里，许多国家的判决。 只有少数 存在对这些过程的经验研究。 摩尔博士的研究 不仅能增进我们对刑事上诉的理解 量刑改革过程中存在的问题 在一个一直处于判决前沿的州里， 指导方针运动。 摩尔博士研究的直接目标是 1)由于量刑准则，上诉案件数量增加， 2)（a）判决政策领域产生特定上诉， 量刑政策以外的因素在多大程度上解释了 上诉倾向; 4）上诉法院的判决结果。 明尼苏达 是一个很好的选择作为研究的研究地点，因为这 国家一直是制定量刑指南的先驱， 涉及上诉法院的刑事判决。 明尼苏达改革 已经成为其他国家的榜样， 对于州上诉法院以及这些法院对 改革将为我们理解变化增加一个有价值的层面 在刑事判决中。 待汇编和存档的数据集 包括一个全面的语料库上诉法院的意见，因为 启动量刑指南，所有刑事上诉的数据，以及 被判刑的罪犯。 因此，这项研究应该增加一个重要的 我们对上诉程序和 美国法律的一个重大变化--上诉法院的介入 在量刑决定中。

Appellate processes in state courts have on the whole been woefully neglected as an area of social scientific research. They have been particularly ignored with respect to criminal appeals, a vital area to be examined in view of the wave of reform that has swept over criminal sentencing in many states during the past few years. Only a handful of empirical studies of these processes exist. Dr. Moore's research will not only increase our understanding of the criminal appeal process, but will reveal the kinds of problems that sentencing reform has created in a state that has been in the vanguard of the sentencing guidelines movement. The immediate objectives of Dr. Moore's study are to examine 1) increases in appellate caseload due to the sentencing guidelines, 2) the area of sentencing policy generating a given appeal, 3) the extent to which factors other than sentencing policy explain the tendency to appeal, and 4) appellate court outcomes. Minnesota is an excellent choice as the research site for the study since this state has been a pioneer in developing sentencing guidelines and in involving appellate courts in criminal sentencing. Minnesota's reforms have been a model for other states and knowledge of their consequences for the state's appellate courts and the reactions of those courts to reforms will add a valuable dimension to our understanding of changes in criminal sentencing. The data set to be compiled and archived includes a comprehensive corpus of appellate court opinions since the initiation of sentencing guidelines, data on all criminal appeals, and on sentenced offenders. Thus, this research should add an important component to our scientific understanding of both appellate process and a major change in American law--the involvement of appellate courts in sentencing decisions.