NCJ Number
73368
Date Published
1979
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The president of the National Council on Crime and Deliquency critiques S. 1722 and S. 1723, bills to reform Federal criminal laws, with respect to their sentencing provisions.
Abstract
Any sentencing proposals adopted in Federal legislation should be predicated on achieving an overall de-escalation of criminal sanctioning practices at the Federal level. S. 1722 is fundamentally flawed, in that its sentencing provisions deal with only some of the most crucial shortcomings of current sentencing practices. It is oriented primarily toward increasing certainty and equity in sentencing. While these are important objectives, the bill fails to address completely the need to reduce reliance on incareration and generally fails to adhere to the principle that the least drastic means for accomplishing a governmental interest is to be preferred. Instead, the bill is saturated with provisions that would increase reliance on incarceration. S. 1723 does not have all of the negative sentencing features of S. 1722; however, S. 1723 has also failed to embrace fully the principles which should be the basis for major sentencing reform. Many of the 'bracketed' portions of the bill reflect a failure to make critical policy decisions regarding the preferences, priorities, and presumptions of reform objectives. Any sentencing reform legislation should contain a presumption against incarceration, have a broad range of penalties of varying severity authorized and presented in order of preference, and use penalties that would not impair the capacity of offenders to function in a free society after sentences have been fulfilled.