Crime Classification Manual Part I Chapter 4 7
Crime Cl
A
STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES
SECOND
EDITION
John E. Douglas,
Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, and Robert K. Ressler, Editors
Aggravators
Relating to the Crime Itself
Of
all the themes of aggravating factors, aggravators linked to what a person did in
the course of carrying out a crime most protect the justice system from bias,
prejudice, privilege, and other unintended inequalities in sentencing. The subjectivity
of assessment of future dangerousness, for example, parallels the subjectivity
of an assessment of future docility. Nothing speaks for a crime like the crime itself.
Each
state, along with the federal system, has its own criminal codes and sentencing
guidelines. These codes, enacted by legislative initiative and interpreted by
courts, contribute to distinct applications of justice. This decentralization
also means that identical crimes, prosecuted in different jurisdictions, are punished
based on different factors. Depending on the level of judicial initiative in
giving jury instructions, even more distinct outcomes are possible for each
case.

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