Giving people what they want: An exploratory analysis of felony sentencing in 49 states

The author examines the effect that two measures of public opinion, conservatism/liberalism and crime salience, have on the length of felony sentences handed down by courts in 49 states. The role of resource measures such as prison and tax capacity are also examined. The conservatism/liberalism measure of public opinion has an impact on sentencing for most types of felonies, but the measure of salience of crime to the individual seems to only have a strong association with drug crimes. Prison and tax capacity do not seem to have any impact on sentence length.