Sentencing Guidelines and Constitutional Issues essays

Sentencing Guidelines and Constitutional Issues essays I will substantiate that the federal enhanced sentencing guidelines as they presently exists present troubling Constitutional issues. Judges use to determine criminal sentences by considering the facts of each case, including the circumstances of the offense and the life history of the offender. After these careful observations were made, the judge would choose a sentence they considered fair. Federal judges had only one requirement, and that the sentence would have to be within a statutory range. This practice fell into disfavor because it permitted too much disparity between cases. In 1984 Congress addressed these concerns by creating the United States Sentencing Commission and made the public aware of the terms of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The task of the judge was to look up on the grid the spot where the offense level intersected the criminal history, and at that point, a statutory range would be applied. These guidelines consisted of worksheets to calculate a pers on's sentence by using gridlines that created levels to every crime. Congress thought that creating this new system of sentencing it would bring order and reason to sentencing, but it didn't. Instead, serious offenders were given minor sentences, and minor offenders sometimes were given harsh sentences. Although the task seemed simple, they found out the hard way that one size doesn't fit all. One problem in the federal system is the complexity of the grid. The federal grid contains 258 boxes and the calculations needed to determine the proper box occupy a 393 page rule book with 539 pages of appendices. Every calculation opens the possibility of arithmetic error or interpretive disagreement, so the final product contains disparities that may be as bad as those the guidelines were designed to resolve. Another particularly crucial problem is that the grid shifts the sentencing power from the judge to the prosecutor's office. Before the grid, pros...