Plea Agreements Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (From United States Sentencing Commission Reprint Series, V I, June 1992, P 119-144 -- See NCJ-140271)

• NCJ Number: 140275
• Author(s): D A Purdy Jr; J Lawrence
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: US Sentencing Cmssn
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from the Criminal Law Bulletin 26(6):483-508 (1990).

Annotation

This paper provides an overview of the workings of the Federal guidelines and discusses the use of defendant's "relevant conduct" in determining offense level in sentencing; the informed plea of guilty is also considered.

Abstract

The Federal sentencing guidelines structure the sentencing discretion of the trial judge and change the way practitioners must view sentencing consequences in general and their plea bargaining discretion and options in particular. Under the sentencing guidelines, prosecutors have a relatively strict national policy that governs their plea bargains; it requires close adherence to the spirit and letter of the guidelines. Also, the acceptance of plea agreements will be affected by guideline sentencing, because judges and the parties will use the applicable guideline range as a basis for the evaluation of the appropriateness of the plea agreement in the context of the real- offense conduct. Perhaps the single most important aspect of guideline sentencing is the use of the defendant's "relevant conduct" in determining the offense level in sentencing, whether or not it is specifically described in a count of conviction. A reduction in sentencing severity for acceptance of responsibility in furtherance of legitimate societal interests remains an important area of judicial discretion under guidelines sentencing. 88 footnotes