The Model Sentencing Guidelines Project: Sentencing Factors Applicable to All Offense Types, Model Sentencing Guidelines §§3.1-3.6

Abstract:     
This Article is the ninth of twelve parts of a set of Model Federal Sentencing Guidelines designed to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of a simplified approach to federal sentencing proposed by the Constitution Project Sentencing Initiative. The Model Sentencing Guidelines and the Constitution Project report are all to be published in Volume 18, Number 5 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. The project is described in an essay titled 'Tis a Gift To Be Simple: A Model Reform of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

This segment of the project contains rules addressing a number factors relevant to sentencing that can occur across the range of offense types. The factors treated here include role in the offense, abuses of trust, causing or risking injury in the course of an offense, and obstruction of justice during the investigation or prosecution of an offense. The rules designate some factors as issues determinative of sentencing range which must be decided by the jury or by plea. The rules designate other factors as matters to be decided post-conviction by the sentencing judge and considered in setting the defendant's sentence within the applicable guideline range.

Keywords: sentencing, federal sentencing, federal sentencing guidelines, United States Sentencing Commission, crime, punishment, role in the offense, abuse of trust, obstruction of justice

JEL Classifications: K10, K14, K41, K42

Accepted Paper Series