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	Federal Sentencing Guidelines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The Guidelines are the product of the United States Sentencing Commission and are part of an overall federal sentencing reform package that took effect in the mid-1980s.
		This refers to sentencing whose actual limits are determined at the time sentence is imposed as opposed to indeterminate sentencing in which a sentence with a maximum (and, perhaps, a minimum) is pronounced but the actual sentence is determined by a parole commission or similar administrative body after the person has started serving their sentence.
		Booker found that the Guidelines, as originally constituted, violated the Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury, and the remedy chosen was excision of those provisions of the law establishing the Guidelines that made them mandatory standards.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Federal_Sentencing_Guidelines (345 words)

	frontline: snitch: readings: federal sentencing guidelines revisited
		Sentence lengths, of course, were to be adjusted to accommodate this change in parole practice.
		Moreover, statutory mandatory minimum sentences and Guideline sentences written to reflect those mandatory minimums--particularly in respect to drug crimes--may increase the pressure upon a defendant to provide "substantial assistance" in order to obtain a downward departure, or to plead guilty to an offense with a low statutory maximum (e.g., simple possessions).
		Critics often complain about the Guidelines' definition of "relevant conduct." The current broad definition, it is said, means that an offender may receive extra years in prison on the basis of facts that may not be closely related to the crime of which he was convicted.
	www.pbs.org /wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch/readings/breyer.html (2978 words)

	Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / High court overturns sentencing guidelines
		The high court found that the mandatory sentencing guidelines system violated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because it required judges to base part of their sentencing decisions on additional facts, such as previous criminal history or using a weapon, which a jury did not specifically find to be true.
		The decision could also ripple through state systems with similar sentencing guidelines, though many states are already in the process of adjusting their guidelines in accordance with a Supreme Court decision last year limiting Washington state judges' ability to increase sentences based on additional facts not found by a jury.
		In the federal system, some analysts said, Congress is likely to react to yesterday's decision by passing a law to constrain judges' power, and in the meantime the ruling still may not result in the early release of many prisoners because judges will have the power to reaffirm their earlier decisions.
	www.boston.com /news/nation/washington/articles/2005/01/13/high_court_overturns_sentencing_guidelines (528 words)

	Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manuals and Amendments
		Amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines (May 18, 2006) This compilation contains unofficial text of amendments to the sentencing guidelines and is provided only for the convenience of the user.
		The amended guideline, as set forth in the Supplement, supercedes the current §2D1.1 that is set forth in the 2005 Guidelines Manual (white cover with burnt orange lettering), and together with the rest of the 2005 Guidelines Manual, will constitute the operative Guidelines Manual effective March 27, 2006.
		Highlights of the Amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines — Effective November 1, 2000.
	www.ussc.gov /guidelin.htm (2332 words)

	Cover Story: Defense Lawyers and Federal Sentencing Guidelines (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		The federal sentencing guidelines, which were passed by Congress in 1987 and signed into law by President Reagan, have tied the hands of federal judges when it comes to imposing sentences on criminal defendants convicted in federal courts.
		In view of the guidelines, one new aspect of planning how to try a case in court is deciding whether to call the defendant to testify in his or her own defense.
		The federal sentencing guidelines have made the District of Columbia unique in at least one way that defense attorneys must take into account: here prosecutors have the option of filing charges either in Superior Court, where there are no sentencing guidelines, or in federal court, where the guidelines do apply.
	www.dcbar.org /for_lawyers/washington_lawyer/october_2003/sentence.cfm (4825 words)

	Federal Sentencing Guidelines Revisited - National Constitution Center (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		The first was to change the guidelines from "mandatory to "advisory." The second was in response to the 2004 decision in Washington declaring the sentencing guidelines unconstitutional.
		Before the Supreme Court’s decision to change the sentencing guidelines, judges had limited discretion in determining sentence length, but broad discretion in determining what facts were relevant to sentence length, including those that were not found by the jury.
		The guidelines allowed judges to extend prison terms based upon factors that were not presented to the jury or admitted by the defendant.
	www.constitutioncenter.org /education/ForEducators/DiscussionStarters/FederalSentencingGuidelinesRevisited.shtml (1346 words)

	Blakely Roils Waters of Federal Sentencing
		In a footnote, the majority opinion states, "The Federal Guidelines are not before us, and we express no opinion on them." The court's dissenting opinions, however, insisted that 20 years of sentencing reformation represented in the federal guidelines have been torn asunder.
		Whether the Sixth Amendment is violated by the imposition of an enhanced sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines based on the sentencing judge's determination of a fact (other than a prior conviction) that was not found by the jury or admitted by the defendant.
		The result has been a wave of instability in the federal sentencing system that has left the government, defendants, and the courts without clear guidance on how to conduct the thousands of federal criminal sentencings that are scheduled each month.
	www.uscourts.gov /ttb/august04ttb/blakely (1949 words)

	What Can We Learn from the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Ethics?
		According to Win Swinsen, the former Deputy General Counsel of the Sentencing Commission, one of the primary reasons for the enactment of sentencing guidelines for organizations was that the U.S. government lacked a clear corporate crime sentencing and enforcement policy.
		Empirical research conducted by the Sentencing Commission on corporate sentencing practices demonstrated that "...corporate sentencing was in disarray...nearly identical cases were treated differently." In addition, average fines were found to be "...less than the cost corporations had to pay to obey the law" (Sentencing Commission, 1995:30).
		To achieve the objectives, the Guidelines provide the following measures: (1) the organization is required to remedy all damage that it has caused and to pay a fine based on the severity of the offence and the degree of guilt of the offender.
	www.itcilo.it /english/actrav/telearn/global/ilo/code/whatcan.htm (5918 words)

	ERC Ethics Index and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		Since November 1991, the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations ("organizational guidelines") have provided the essential foundation from which practitioners have framed, debated, and researched what it means to have an effective compliance and ethics program.
		Where the sentencing court finds that steps must be taken to reduce the likelihood of future criminal conduct, it may also put an organization on probation and require it to implement an effective compliance and ethics program.
		The sentencing judge will want the organization to be able to demonstrate that its training program was actually geared to dealing with a specific body of risks and actually contributed to explicit program outcomes, such as increasing awareness of the risk, reducing misconduct or encouraging reporting of misconduct.
	www.ethics.org /ethicsindex/fsgo.html (1067 words)

	Villainous Company: Federal Sentencing Guidelines
		About 60,000 criminals are sentenced in federal court each year, and the process will now be more bewildering than ever.
		Blakely, a case involving a Washington man whose sentence was boosted by factors neither admitted by the defendant nor considered by the jury.
		When the guidelines came out, my reading of them made me wonder how sentencing someone based on facts that were never proven in the criminal trial beyond a reasonable doubt, but only after the trial or plea on less than "BRD" could be constitutional.
	www.villainouscompany.com /vcblog/archives/2005/01/federal_sentenc.html (1090 words)

	Blakely Decision: Supreme Court Overturns Federal Sentencing Guidelines
		The Supreme Court ruled that federal sentencing guidelines put in place two decades ago were unconstitutional because they violated a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to be tried by a jury.
		A few thousand defendants who have already been convicted but are appealing their sentences may have a chance to get less prison time, but for tens of thousands of federal prisoners serving time in cases that had reached final resolution, the decision will not apply retroactively.
		The sentencing guidelines were struck down by conservatives like Scalia, and are -- and the mandatory minimums are opposed by conservative federalist society judges like Paul Cassell in Utah.
	www.november.org /Blakely/Democracy1-14-05.html (1264 words)

	A Blakely Primer: An End to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines?
		Unimpressed, the majority counters that determinate sentencing schemes are still permissible, but that the defendant who commits a crime should have an expectation of his sentence under the facts proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and should not be further punished by a higher prescribed range on facts proved by a lesser standard.
		However, under the federal guidelines, the offense level is determined based on a myriad of facts, many of which are not elements of the offense — it is a “real offense” way of sentencing.
		This would require extensive revision to the federal sentencing statutes and guidelines, including elimination of the so-called “25% rule,” which requires that the maximum guideline range shall not exceed the minimum of that range by more than the greater of 25% or six months, and it would require massive revision to the federal sentencing table.
	www.nacdl.org /public.nsf/championarticles/a0408p10?opendocument (6673 words)

	The NarcoSphere \|\| Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Mandatory Minimums
		A federal inmate must serve all but 54 days a year, which may be awarded as a sentence reduction for good behavior.
		This week he was sentenced to 55 years in prison because he had a pistol strapped to his ankle during the deals.
		The maximum sentence for all those crimes together is less than the mandatory minimum under federal sentencing rules for a small-time dope dealer carrying a gun.
	narcosphere.narconews.com /story/2005/1/8/14024/88506 (2700 words)

	Federal Sentencing Guidelines - Boston College (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		One significant aspect of the Guidelines is that each organization is responsible for the wrongful acts of its employees as long as the employees were acting in their official capacity.
		Important factors upon which organizations will be judged by the federal government include (1) the absence of proper internal controls, (2) knowing participation by high level management, (3) previous violations, (4) lack of anti-fraud procedures and (5) the absence of ethics training.
		The Guidelines have instituted a scoring procedure whereby point values are assigned based on aggravating and mitigating factors.
	www.bc.edu /offices/audit/fraud/federal (287 words)

	Supreme Court Decisions: Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Immigrant Imprisonment (washingtonpost.com)
		However, in my opinion, prisoners sentenced under the guidelines in the past will have to be given the opportunity to re-argue their sentences in light of the guidelines being only "advisory." This will likely have the effect of sending thousands of federal criminal cases back to the original sentencing court for a fresh sentencing proceeding.
		The original sentencing guidelines were one of the first comprehensive forays by Congress in federal court criminal sentencing.
		When the guidelines were being considered by Congress, huge disparities in sentencing were uncovered not only among various federal district courts but also among individual judges sitting on the same court.
	www.washingtonpost.com /wp-dyn/articles/A4109-2005Jan12.html (2682 words)

	Federal sentencing guidelines likely to be stricken, panel says
		Aspects of the federal sentencing guidelines will likely be deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and may have to be revised by Congress, a panel of the nation’s leading criminal justice experts predicted at a symposium Friday, Oct. 8, marking the launch of the new Stanford Center for Criminal Justice.
		“The guidelines themselves have always been highly controversial as a matter of sentencing policy, but when they were devised, they drew on the thoughtful views of scholars, judges and others, and aimed at nonpolitical goals such as greater uniformity and transparency in sentencing.
		Federal guidelines currently permit judges to add years to a sentence without jury involvement, as do some other state sentencing systems.
	news-service.stanford.edu /news/2004/october20/blakely-1020.html (694 words)

	Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / Judge censures federal sentencing guidelines
		The guidelines, aimed at preventing disparities in sentencing, set up a grid system for sentencing defendants according to factors such as the criminal background of the defendant, the seriousness of the crime, the defendant's acceptance of responsibility, and his level of cooperation with authorities.
		But many judges have expressed frustration that they have little ability to use their own judgment in sentencing, and are instead bound by the categories established by the guidelines.
		In his ruling, Young says he believes the sentences handed down to the five defendants were too high and violated their constitutional right to due process.
	www.boston.com /news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/06/22/judge_censures_federal_sentencing_guidelines (331 words)

	High Court Rules Against Federal Sentencing Guidelines
		MSNBC and the Associated Press reported Jan. 12 that the justices extended to federal sentencing guidelines a previous 5-4 ruling against similar state sentencing guidelines.
		The court stopped short of striking down the federal guidelines, but said that they should be considered advisory, not mandatory.
		If a judge chooses to follow the guidelines, the Supreme Court opinion now opens the door for the sentence to be overturned on appeal.
	www.jointogether.org /news/headlines/inthenews/2005/high-court-rules-against.html (229 words)

	USSC - Organizational Guidelines and Compliance
		This symposium on corporate crime focused on the ways in which companies, industries, and enforcement officials have responded to the organizational sentencing guidelines’ incentives and other changes in the enforcement landscape that encourage businesses to develop strong compliance programs.
		The proposal concerns the determination of aggravating factors in sentencing, organizational commitment to environmental compliance, and probationary periods for organizations.
		This Supplementary Report on Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations supplements and further explains the sentencing guidelines for organizational defendants (proposed Chapter Eight of the Guidelines Manual) submitted to Congress on May 1, 1991, as Amendment 60, by the United States Sentencing Commission.
	www.ussc.gov /orgguide.htm (499 words)

	Future of Federal Sentencing Guidelines Discussed (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		In two days of hearings November 16-17, the U.S. Sentencing Commission was urged to respond clearly, and quickly, once the Supreme Court rules on the validity of the federal sentencing guidelines.
		Federal judges, academics and criminal justice system lawyers said the commission should attempt to have its recommended changes to the guidelines before Congress within nine months of the Supreme Court’s anticipated rulings in a pair of guidelines cases.
		Washington, which struck down a state’s sentencing guidelines as unconstitutional also applies to the federal guidelines in place for 20 years.
	www.uscourts.gov /newsroom/ussc.htm (327 words)

	Criminal Law in the Legal Research Guide (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-18)
		Federal district court for the Eastern District of Missouri makes available a PDF copy of the Handbook for Trial Jurors Serving in the United States District Courts.
		Topics include the Blakely decision (federal sentencing guidelines), clemency and pardons, criminal sentencing alternatives, death penalty reforms, offender characteristics, procedure and proof at sentencing, and more.
		It reproduces state laws on stalking, the federal interstate stalking law, stalking provisions in tribal codes, and relevant penalty provisions in federal statutes.
	www.virtualchase.com /resources/criminal_law.html (3300 words)

	Federal Sentencing Guidelines - LexisNexis InfoPro - Zimmerman's Research Guide
		The Guidelines are published as part of Title 18 of the United States Code (see "United States Code.").
		The Guideline are also published in The Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual.
		In addition, the current sentencing guidelines are available in Westlaw's FCJ-FSG database; old guidelines back to 1997 are available in FCJ-FSG-OLD.
	www.lexisnexis.com /infopro/zimmerman/disp.aspx?z=1477 (198 words)

	DesMoinesRegister.com
		During a June sentencing, court records show, Bennett demanded to know why prosecutors had recommended only a 30 percent reduction in the sentence of a California woman who pleaded guilty of participating in a marijuana ring.
		Bennett's criticisms of the federal sentencing guidelines, although unusually candid, are not new among federal judges.
		In the Blakely case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for a judge to alter a sentence based on factors that were not proven to a jury.
	desmoinesregister.com /apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041201/NEWS01/412010318/1002 (1351 words)

	frontline: busted - america's war on marijuana: laws, sentencing & prices: intended and unintended consequences
		Marijuana laws are enforced by State and Federal governments.
		U.S. Forests), large quantities (over 50 plants or 50 kilos), the crossing of national borders, and where the investigation was conducted by Federal agents.
		Sentencing guidelines are considered excessive, not only by defense attorneys, but by many Federal Judges.
	www.pbs.org /wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/laws/feds.html (86 words)

	Sentencing Standards No Longer Mandatory (washingtonpost.com)
		The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal judges are no longer bound by mandatory sentencing guidelines but need only consult them when they punish federal criminals.
		Under the ruling, federal judges will be free to decide for themselves whether defendants deserve sentences longer or shorter than the ranges prescribed by the guidelines, but their decisions will be subject to reversal if appeals courts find them unreasonable.
		The guidelines were established in the 1980s as part of a bipartisan effort to ensure that the same crime would receive about the same punishment nationwide.
	www.washingtonpost.com /wp-dyn/articles/A3336-2005Jan12.html (605 words)

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