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Have the new (proposed) amended federal guidelines has any ripple effect yet?

By Douglas A. Berman

During the terrific sentencing panel yesterday at the Sixth Circuit judicial conference festivities (basics here), I suggested that the new federal guideline amendments released last Friday by the US Sentencing Commission (basics here) could be like a pebble in a pond with important and highly consequential ripple effects on federal sentencing law and policy.  I stressed my view that the size and significance of this ripple effect would depend greatly on just how practitioners and district judges interpret and give effect to the changes (and especially the vague and open-ended language in changes to the offender circumstances policy statements). Of course, as discussed in this prior post, Formally, the proposed amended guidelines do not become legally effective until November 1, 2010, and thus I probably should not be looking for any big ripples from the new guidelines until this fall...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 07, 2010 (boomark / email).