Federal Sentencing Guidelines

The eyes of most every criminal trial attorney are, or will be next month, at least glancing in the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court when it reconsiders Blakely v. Washington and its effect on &, constitutionality of , the Federal Sentencing Guidelines which were established back in 1984.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in her dissenting opinion, prophetically stated that, “The Court ignores the havoc it is about to wreck on trial courts across the country… Over 20 years of sentencing reform are all but lost, and tens of thousands of criminal judgements are in jeoprody.”

“Inside of the two weeks following Blakely,” the Aug. 2nd. issue of Lawyers Weekly, U.S.A. quotes Indiana University law professor Frank O. Bowman, III, “four federal circuit have reached four different results. And in a single federal district in Utah, four judges have had results somewhat different than the four courts of appeals.”

The outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision, though, may not be limited to just the federal arena. While Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky do not, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee all have sentencing structures similar to the one being questioned in Blakely.

While there apparently no state sentencing systems – yet – having to contend with the sweeping turmoil being endured at the federal level, there are several websites where that kind of information is, or soon will be, available.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s website is @ http://www.ussc.gov/

The Ohio Sentencing Commission is @ http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/sentencing_commission/default.asp
Indiana’s Criminal Justice Institute is @ http://www.in.gov/cji/home

There’s the Indiana Law Blog @ http://www.indianalawblog.com/


The National Association of Sentencing Commissions (NASC) has already posted responses from Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania; along with a "membership contact list" @ www.ussc.gov/states/nascaddr.htm )

And finally, Douglas Berman, professor of law , Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University, man-ages an impressive undertaking called “Sentencing Law & Policy” @ http://sentencing.typepad.com/