NCJ Number
108487
Date Published
1987
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Three members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission -- George MacKinnon, Ilene Nagel, and Michael Block -- discuss issues in the development and impact of the Federal sentencing guidelines.
Abstract
Nagel reviews some of the issues addressed by the commission in developing the guidelines. These include sentencing principles and philosophy, the degree to which fines should be based on the seriousness of the offense or the offender's ability to pay, the role of current sentencing practice data in the development of the guidelines, warranted and unwarranted sentencing disparities, and the role of selective incapacitation. In discussing the impact of the guidelines on sentencing and the prison population, Michael Block considers the scenarios of low growth in the number of prosecutions and high growth in the number of prosecutions. He compares the impact of the guidelines on prison populations compared to the impact of statutory increases in sentencing for drug offenders and career criminals. He notes that although sentences will lengthen and the use of imprisonment will grow in the years ahead, the guidelines will moderately influence this trend compared to the impact of drug laws and laws focusing on career criminals. MacKinnon notes that in the interest of bringing more certainty to sentencing, parole has been eliminated, but alternatives to imprisonment have been emphasized, including the use of restitution, halfway houses, and community corrections in general. The commissioners view the development of the sentencing guidelines as evolutionary, with the initial guidelines being a small departure from existing sentencing data, with a view toward gradual change through commission evaluation and appellate review.