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Another great read on the state of federal sentencing

By Douglas A. Berman

The always interesting Mark Osler has this new piece up on SSRN, which goes by the engaging title "Policy, Uniformity, Discretion, and Congress's Sentencing Acid Trip." Here is the abstract:The federal sentencing guidelines have been controversial and widely-criticized since they became effective in 1987.  One core problem with the guidelines is that there are too many (at least 31) distinct policy mandates from Congress directed at the Sentencing Commission.  Many of the principles embodied by these mandates are in direct conflict.  Much like the Pointless Man in Harry Nilsson's The Point (a character created while Nilsson was on an acid trip, who has arrows pointing in every direction and thus no point at all), sentencing policy has so many directives that it has no moral basis at all...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).