Paul Cassell, a Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the State of Missouri’s practice of informing judges about the costs of imposing certain sentences.
As the article explains, the practice has ignited a debate between certain defense attorneys and fiscal conservatives, who argue that it will prompt judges to consider the costs of a prison sentence, and prosecutors and others who maintain that such costs are irrelevant when considering appropriate punishment and that this practice downplays the social costs of crime.
Cassell is among the latter group.