The Demand for Democracy in Sentencing
12 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2024
Date Written: July 03, 2024
Abstract
In making the federal sentencing guidelines advisory, Booker v. United States made the influence of those guidelines dependent on their perceived legitimacy. This Article argues that, given the link between law's legitimacy and its democratic character, Booker should be read as a demand for democracy in sentencing. This demand echoes the one imbued in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's statutory charter, which gives the agency unique potential to create administrative governance that is of the people, for the people, and by the people. In detailing past and present efforts to fulfill that potential, this Article invites readers to assist the Commission in its continuing pursuit of more democratic sentencing policy.
Keywords: democracy, sentencing, criminal law, administrative law
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