11/13/06
FAMM testifies at United States Sentencing Commission's crack hearing
The United States Sentencing Commission is holding a hearing on crack cocaine sentencing guidelines on Nov. 14, 2006 in Washington, D.C. FAMM president Julie Stewart will present testimony urging commission members to act to correct the unjust disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing laws. Read more
3/17/06
Sentencing Commission report on Booker decision finds not much has changed
The U.S. Sentencing Commission published a report in March 2006 indicating that not much has changed in the federal sentencing system since Booker, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling 14 months ago that made the nearly 20-year-old mandatory guideline system an advisory guideline system, thereby giving judges more freedom to decide what a fair sentence is. The report found that federal defendants are getting slightly longer prison sentences since the Booker decision, and that judges are by and large following the sentencing guidelines, as they did before the Supreme Court's decision in January 2005. Read more
3/17/06
Advisory guidelines v. mandatory guidelines
The debate on advisory versus mandatory sentencing guidelines rages on. Some say the advisory system is broken and must be “fixed” by returning to a system of mandatory sentencing guidelines. Among them is, William Mercer, the associate deputy attorney general who testified in support of mandatory guidelines at a hearing held by the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. Read more