Tweaking Booker: Advisory Guidelines in the Federal System

Abstract:     
If writing on a blank slate, few would likely advocate the precise sentencing system resulting from the Supreme Court's decision in Booker. Nevertheless, in this Article, I contend that policymakers should consider playing the peculiar Booker hand that the Court has dealt for federal sentencing. Especially because any significant alteration of the structure of federal sentencing remains legally treacherous and fraught with uncertainty, Congress and the U.S. Sentencing Commission should focus their efforts and energies on improving the advisory guideline system that Booker has produced. I suggest that, though the sentencing scheme created by Booker is far from perfect, a program of modulated incremental changes is likely to provide the soundest course for the post-Booker development of the federal sentencing system.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 51

Keywords: sentence, penal, imprisonment

JEL Classification: K41, K42

Accepted Paper Series