Academic

Bibas, Schanzenbach, & Tiller on Politics & Sentencing

By Lawrence Solum

Stephanos Bibas , Max M. Schanzenbach and Emerson H. Tiller (University of Pennsylvania Law School , Northwestern University - School of Law and Northwestern University - School of Law) have posted Policing Politics at Sentencing on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

In the recent Booker, Rita, and Gall cases, the Supreme Court continued to loosen federal sentencing law without exploring the implications of broader trial-court sentencing discretion. Drawing on our previous work in positive political theory, this essay argues that binding sentencing guidelines are necessary to constrain trial-court discretion and permit meaningful appellate review. The Court has taken too rosy a view of trial-court sentencing discretion, undervaluing appellate review as a check on policy and ideological variations. Moreover, its case law discourages the transparency needed for appellate review and public scrutiny. Finally, this essay considers what guideline sentencing ought to look like if we could build it from scratch.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).