White-Collar Plea Bargaining and Sentencing after Booker
William and Mary Law Review, Vol. 47, p. 721, 2005
22 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2009 Last revised: 12 May 2009
Date Written: 2005
Abstract
This symposium essay speculates about how Booker's loosening of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines is likely to affect white-collar plea bargaining and sentencing. Prosecutors' punishment intuitions and the strong white-collar defense bar will keep white-collar sentencing from growing as harsh as drug sentencing, but the parallels are nonetheless ominous. The essay suggests that the Sentencing Commission revise its loss-computation rules, calibrate white-collar sentences to their core purpose of expressing condemnation, and adding shaming punishments and apologies to give moderate prison sentences more bite.
Keywords: Criminal sentences, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, white collar crime, plea bargaining, Apprendi, Blakely, Booker, Sarbanes-Oxley
JEL Classification: K14, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation