Criminal Law-Sentencing
The final stage of a criminal case in the trial court is sentencing. The federal judiciary as well as many states now operate under sentencing guidelines. These sentencing guidelines are very detailed and very complex formulas that govern the parameters of a sentence that a judge can impose on a defendant for a specific crime. Within those sentencing guidelines there are a variety of factors that may be considered by the court including (but not limited to):
* the defendant’s prior criminal history;
* the defendant’s cooperation with the government in the investigation of other related crimes;
* the defendant’s feelings of remorse after conviction; and,
* the nature and seriousness of the offense itself.
The purpose of these sentencing guidelines is to eliminate the significant disparity that can exist from one judge to another in sentences for the same crime.
The judiciary, to some extent, has been rather critical of sentencing guidelines because they significantly restrict a judge’s discretion. The guidelines, however, do allow for exceptional circumstances when the sentence imposed may vary from what the guidelines call for. The purpose of the guidelines is admirable—to eliminate unfairness or gross disparity in the way that defendants are treated for similar crimes. But like any guidelines, they are not perfect.
