The Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice is a nonpartisan research institute at the University of Minnesota Law School. We are committed to a criminal justice system that is fair, effective, and accountable.

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View All Project Team Presentations Made to the Commission as Part of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission Research Support Project
Learn More About Former Robina Institute Fellow Rhys Hester’s New Book: Sentencing Without Guidelines
Read Ebony Ruhland and Julia Laskorunsky’s Journal Article in Crime & Delinquency, Which Investigates How Individuals Incarcerated Who Were Denied Parole Navigated the Parole Process and Their Subsequent Denial for Release
“In non-paroling systems, prison officials have sole control over back-end prison release discretion for most sentenced individuals. Their ability to affect prison population change ranges from limited to significant, depending on the design of the good-time and earned-time credit system.”
How Does Prison Release Indeterminacy Affect Prison Population Size?
Featured Publications
Publication

Understanding How Probation and Parole Conditions Are Set in Three States

The Understanding How Probation and Parole Conditions Are Set in Three States report series was developed as part of the Aligning Supervision Conditions with Risk and Needs project, the goal of which is to reduce probation and…
Publication

Understanding Failure to Maintain Contact Violations

Since 2019, Ramsey County Community Corrections (RCCC) and the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice have collaborated on the Reducing Revocations Challenge, a CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance national…
Report

American Prison-Release Systems: Indeterminacy in Sentencing and the Control of Prison Population Size

“Indeterminacy” is the product of uncertainty, after a judge has pronounced a prison sentence, about later official decisions that will influence the actual time served by the defendant. The uncertainty extends over many future decisions,…
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