Proportionality and Parsimony in American Sentencing Guidelines: The Minnesota and Oregon Standards

Abstract

Abstract The US Federal Guidelines will be examined in chapter eight of this volume by Professor Doob. The standards’ primary aim, he points out, was to get tough: and tough they certainly are. If the Guidelines produce unfair results, fairness was not one of the drafters’ major concerns. By and large, the Federal Guidelines have achieved their purpose: sentences imposed by Federal courts are now substantially more severe than they were before the Guidelines’ adoption.