NCJ Number
138549
Journal
U.C. Davis Law Review Volume: 25 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1992) Pages: 659- 678
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the cost impacts of Congress's 1984 decision to impose strong restrictions on the sentencing discretion of Federal judges and parole commissioners concludes that an optimal sentencing policy probably involves more delegation of discretion to individual judges than is achieved under the current sentencing system.
Abstract
The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 was designed to reduce sentencing disparity, to prevent excessive leniency, and to avoid having most offenders released on parole before serving their full terms. However, the new guidelines are proving costly to develop and apply and are producing sentencing disparities due to inconsistencies and overbreadth. Analysis of this situation using an economic model of agency costs indicates that criminal sentencing is too complex a task to accomplish through the rote application of general rules. Therefore, although general rules and appellate review are needed to reduce sentencing disparity, judges need more discretion than they currently have. Footnotes