The Law and Policy of Sentencing and Corrections in a Nutshell (Nutshells)

An excellent reference tool, this book explores a range of sentencing-related topics, including the principal purposes of criminal sentences, restorative justice, guilty pleas and plea bargaining, different ways to structure sentencing systems, procedural rights during sentencing proceedings, sentencing evidence, community-based sentences, the death penalty, Eighth Amendment constraints on sentences in noncapital cases, parole release, probation and parole revocation, and enmeshed penalties (often called the “collateral consequences” of a conviction). The latter half of the book contains an illuminating overview of the constitutional rights of incarcerated people, details on litigating their civil-rights suits challenging conditions of confinement and their treatment while incarcerated, and the remedies available to them.