Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Author: Joe Devine

The United States has an entire organization that sets the
standard sentence times for various crimes that take place
in the United States. Basically, these are pre-set prison
or probation terms for certain crimes. They do not allow a
judge to sentence a newly convicted individual for less
than say 3 years in jail for Crime X. These laws have drawn
a lot of criticism because there seems to be a bias towards
crimes that occur less among the upper echelon of
individuals. For example, being caught with crack cocaine
is subject to a longer prison term than people caught with
plain cocaine. As crack cocaine is more commonly found in
less affluent areas, it is seen as a biased system.

Recently, the Supreme Court upheld, in two separate cases,
two much more lenient sentences that brought the punishment
imposed for crack cocaine much closer to the punishments
given for the powdered form of cocaine and the punishment
for selling drugs in general. The court felt that federal
sentencing guidelines were too harsh. This decision is
being seen as the Supreme Court giving the go-ahead to
judges that want to impose more lenient terms on crack
offenders. The decision by the Supreme Court came on the
eve of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. This group sets the
guidelines for various crimes.

In the first case, the Court upheld a sentence of
probation, not prison time, for an Arizona man that
admitted to selling Ecstasy while he was in college. The
Court felt prison was unnecessary as the man is no longer
in college. The federal guidelines called for a 3 year
prison sentence for the crime.

In the second case, the Court upheld a sentence of 15 years
in prison for a man caught with having a gun and crack
cocaine in his car. While this may seem like a long
sentence, the federal guidelines call for between 19 and 22
years in a penitentiary.

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, or the old ones at
least, imposed a sentence 100 times harsher for being
caught with crack cocaine than those caught with the same
amount of powdered cocaine. The 100-to-1 ratio is seen as
being racially biased because white people are generally
caught with powdered cocaine and not white people are
generally caught with crack cocaine.

The Bush Administration and its prosecutors favored longer
prison sentences but respected the Court's decision. This
decision gives permission for judges everywhere to issue a
sentence that is less than the federal guideline. It makes
the guidelines actual guidelines, not set in stone rules.


About the Author:

Joe Devine
http://www.danieljensenlaw.com