Welcome to the archive of past Child-Maltreatment-Research-L (CMRL) list serve messages (11,000+).
The table below contains all past CMRL messages (text only, no attachments) from Nov. 20,
1996 - April 4, 2024 and is updated every two months.
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Subject:Re: high ACES score and mitigation in criminal sentencing
The “had a hard life” defense is used in pretty much every case, particularly in the sentencing phase. It rarely has much effect. Turns out lots of people have had terrible things happen to them (particularly girls and women) and/or had very tough lives. But few kill, rape, rob, shoot, etc. As a a single explanatory variable for violent behavior, an ACEs score would be of little value given the epidemiology of the items.
Benjamin E. Saunders, PhD
Professor Emeritus
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC
On Jun 15, 2021, at 11:31 AM, Lisa Fontes wrote:
CAUTION: External
Dear Colleagues,
Are any of you familiar with legal cases in which a high ACES score has been used to argue for a more lenient sentence for someone who has committed a serious crime?
I would be interested in anything and everything related to this topic. Feel free to write me privately at: LFontes@rcn.com
Many thanks,
Lisa Aronson Fontes, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer II
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The “had a hard life” defense is used in pretty much every case, particularly in the sentencing phase. It rarely has much effect. Turns out lots of people have had terrible things happen to them (particularly girls and women) and/or had very tough lives. But few kill, rape, rob, shoot, etc. As a a single explanatory variable for violent behavior, an ACEs score would be of little value given the epidemiology of the items.
Benjamin E. Saunders, PhD
Professor Emeritus
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC
On Jun 15, 2021, at 11:31 AM, Lisa Fontes wrote:
CAUTION: External
Dear Colleagues,
Are any of you familiar with legal cases in which a high ACES score has been used to argue for a more lenient sentence for someone who has committed a serious crime?
I would be interested in anything and everything related to this topic. Feel free to write me privately at: LFontesrcn.com
Many thanks,
Lisa Aronson Fontes, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer II
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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