Prior criminal record is routinely cited as one of the primary determinants of sentencing, and the common view is that prior record was a leading factor in non-guidelines jurisdictions going back decades. Yet, recent findings from a non-guidelines state failed to conform to this account. This study uses interviews with judges from a non-guidelines state to understand the role of prior record in sentencing in an unstructured sentencing state. This study also reexamines some of the early sentencing guidelines formation literature and finds some indications that pre-guidelines, prior record was not universally an instrumental predictor of sentence length.

中文翻译：

---

惩罚过去（有时）：刑事历史增强的司法视角

先前的犯罪记录通常被认为是量刑的主要决定因素之一，普遍的观点是，先前的记录是过去几十年非指导性司法管辖区的主要因素。然而，最近来自非指南国家的调查结果未能符合这一说法。本研究使用与非指南州法官的访谈来了解先前记录在非结构化量刑状态下量刑中的作用。本研究还重新审视了一些早期量刑指南形成文献，并发现了一些迹象，即前指南、先前记录并非普遍是句子长度的工具预测器。