Fine Tuning the Guidelines—Again

Abstract

In Fine Tuning the Guidelines – Again, the author revisits his recommendations on how to fine tune the federal sentencing guidelines that he offered twenty-seven years ago, and explores the ways in which the guidelines, first upheld by the Supreme Court in 1989, have impacted the criminal justice system of today, for better or worse. Tracking its history and development through the years, this article queries whether the original intentions behind the federal sentencing guidelines are still being served by the now-advisory nature of the guidelines. And taking into account the statistical information and data now publicly available, this article explores the disparities in sentencing that exist today and the myriad of potential causes for such results. The same need for justice and equality in sentencing, regardless of factors such as location or race or ethnicity, appears to be as ardent as it was 40 years ago, especially considering that 98.3% of defendants ended up pleading guilty in 2021. Hopefully, armed now with decades more experience and access to data from across the country, the guidelines can again be adjusted further to achieve their original purposes.