NCJ Number
118525
Date Published
1987
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Restructuring the English sentencing system in a way that would bring greater overall coherence to a complex set of arrangements could be accomplished through the use of sentencing guidelines based on words rather than the numbers used in the United States.
Abstract
A major reason for the lack of consistency and certainty in British sentencing is the conflict over the aims of sentencing. Guidelines would represent an expression of principled thinking about the hierarchy of offenses and the culpability of offenders. One objection to the use of guidelines is that they would lack the detail that can be derived from appellate decisions. However, the guidelines would provide a foundation for decisionmaking. Although the judiciary would probably resist any effort to curtail their broad discretion over sentencing, guidelines would confine judicial discretion to its proper place. The process of creating guidelines might also be subject to political manipulation, although in the United States politically astute sentencing commission members have been able to handle this problem. Notes.