Hard Choices - Critical Trade-offs in the Implementation of Sentencing Reform Through Guidelines (From Reform and Punishment, P 155-203, 1984, Michael Tonry and Franklin E Zimring, eds. - See NCJ-93553)

• NCJ Number: 93557
• Author(s): J C Coffee; M Tonry
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 49 pages
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This essay considers the problem of eliciting compliance with major changes in substantive sentencing policies, using presumptive sentencing guidelines for illustrative purposes.

Abstract

Presumptive sentencing guidelines are defined as sentencing guidelines developed by a specialized agency and that have some formal legal authority. Three distinct clusters of problems confound any proposal for sentencing reform: the substance and illusion of plea bargaining, adaptive responses by case participants to achieve their particular goals, and the trade-off between judicial and prosecutorial discretion. Three possibilities exist for dealing with circumvention of guidelines through plea bargaining: (1) 'real-offense' sentencing, under which the court applies the guideline applicable to the actual offense behavior; (2) 'blind sentencing' procedures, under which the judge would not be informed as to whether the defendant pled guilty or went to trial; and (3) express discounts for a guilty plea, which would be incorporated into the guidelines table. Also examined are appellate review and the comparative benefits of de facto appellate review by a parole agency, as well as the internal administrative procedures for securing greater compliance. Twenty-five references are listed.