What is the effect of a judge's subjective opinion on a sentence?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Brooks, 267 Cal.Rptr.3d 855, 53 Cal.App.5th 919 (Cal. App. 2020):
sentence, based on the judge's experiences with prior cases and the record in the defendant's case, cannot be ignored. A judge's subjective belief regarding the length of the sentence to be imposed is not improper as long as it is channeled by the guided discretion outlined in the myriad of statutory sentencing criteria." ( People v. Stevens (1988) 205 Cal.App.3d 1452, 1457, 253 Cal.Rptr. 173.)
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