United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines: If You Don't Know Where You Are Going, You Might Not Get There (From Politics of Sentencing Reform, P 199-250, 1995, Chris Clarkson and Rod Morgan, eds. -- See NCJ-166953)

• NCJ Number: 166961
• Author(s): A N Doob
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 52 pages
• Sale Source: Oxford University Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This essay looks at the role of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in controlling sentencing policies and outcomes and in sentencing guideline and reform initiatives.

Abstract

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 focused on honesty, uniformity, and proportionality in sentencing. This act identified factors to be considered in imposing a sentence, such as severity of the offense, sentence types available, sentence disparity, and victim restitution. The U.S. Sentencing Commission was established to provide certainty and fairness in sentencing and to establish sentencing guidelines and policies. The commission emerged from an organizational context heavily influenced by both political processes and a priori acceptance of the utility of retributive crime control policies. The commission released its first set of sentencing guidelines in 1987, basically a two- dimensional grid with 43 rows corresponding to offense levels and six columns corresponding to criminal records. Departures from the sentencing guidelines are allowed under certain circumstances, but guideline ranges are narrow, departures are difficult, and appeal courts have generally accepted views of the commission. Problems in evaluating whether unwarranted sentencing disparity has been reduced as a result of the sentencing guidelines are noted, the impact of sentencing guidelines on prison populations and plea bargaining is assessed, and the role of probation officers in implementing the sentencing guidelines is considered. 146 footnotes