NCJ Number
153555
Journal
Judicature Volume: 78 Issue: 4 Dated: (January-February 1995) Pages: 180-188
Date Published
1995
Length
9 pages
Annotation
By using 7 years of experience and data, the recommendations of scholars, and the advice of judges, the United States Sentencing Commission can crate a better and more widely respected system of sentencing guidelines.
Abstract
Judges, attorneys, and scholars have expressed widespread criticism of the first generation of guidelines, which were introduced 7 years ago. Judges are concerned about the system's inflexibility, its excessive complexity, the degree of control over sentences given to prosecutors, the severity of guidelines sentences and statutory mandatory minimum penalties, and problems with specific concepts such as relevant conduct. Many possibilities exist for revising the guidelines. The sentencing commission's new membership offers the greatest immediate potential for improving the guidelines system. However, modest changes by congress and the courts in the way they address sentencing policy and sentencing cases could also contribute to this effort. Footnotes