NCJ Number
155635
Date Published
1995
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The U.S. Sentencing Commission was directed by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to review and, if necessary, amend sentencing guidelines to ensure that victim- related adjustments for fraud offenses committed against elderly victims are adequate.
Abstract
Based on a review of pertinent case law and empirical analyses of sentencing data, the Commission concluded that lack of consistently reported information on victim age prevents a comprehensive assessment of the adequacy of the relevant sentencing guidelines in fraud offenses involving older victims. There is some evidence, that in cases involving older fraud victims, the courts are using existing sentence enhancement mechanisms under the guidelines, particularly the upward adjustment for offenses involving vulnerable victims. When the vulnerable victim enhancement applies, courts have found the magnitude of enhancement, approximately 25 percent, to be adequate. However, the threshold at which fraud victims appear to be vulnerable due to their age is probably substantially greater than age 55. 35 notes and 2 appendixes