Statement of Lowell Dodge Before the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the Committee on the Judiciary Concerning the U.S. Sentencing Commission: Changes Needed to Improve Effectiveness, March 7, 1990

• NCJ Number: 128826
• Author(s): L Dodge
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Presentation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The United States Sentencing Commission needs to make several improvements in its management and operation to overcome delays to establish a system to monitor sentences imposed under the sentencing guidelines that took effect in November 1987 and to evaluate the impacts of the guidelines.

Abstract

The Commission has missed every deadline it has set for the monitoring system and has yet to complete a basic evaluation design. The constitutional challenge resolved a year ago partly explains these delays, but organizational disarray, weak internal controls, and poorly defined policies for human resources management are also factors. Needed changes included strengthening the role of the staff director, increasing congressional oversight over the Commission's monitoring and evaluation activities, and prohibiting commissioner-led research projects that are not consistent with an overall research agenda established by the full Commission. The Commission should also establish a long-range plan or strategy to guide it through the next several years and to guide resource and staff allocations.