NCJ Number
144576
Journal
Yale Law Journal Volume: 101 Issue: 8 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 2043-2051
Date Published
1992
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article assesses the Federal sentencing guidelines as being too harsh and inflexible and proposes ways to ameliorate these characteristics.
Abstract
The Federal Sentencing Commission was established at a time was there was a strong punitive sentiment in the Federal legislature and elsewhere. The Commission's sentencing guidelines reflect this sentiment, as they actually increased the overall severity of Federal sentencing, with white-collar offenders being particular targets. Part of the pattern of excessive severity is the Commission's relatively cursory and mechanical handling of mitigating factors in sentencing. The guidelines would be enhanced by the inclusion of more mitigating factors to justify sentences in the low range of the guidelines, while leaving the option for departures from the guidelines when judges believe them appropriate for particular cases. Such departures should be received more hospitably by both the Commission and the appellate courts in these early stages of guidelines implementation. This would help the Commission and the appellate courts to ascertain and appreciate judicial judgments regarding sentencing. This is particularly important in these early years of guidelines implementation. 16 footnotes