What are the Sentencing Guidelines?
The sentencing guidelines embody the goals of the criminal justice system as determined by the citizens of the state through their elected representatives. This system promotes uniform and proportional sentences for convicted felons and helps to ensure that sentencing decisions are not influenced by factors such as race, gender, or the exercise of constitutional rights by the defendant. The guidelines serve as a model for the criminal justice system as a whole to aspire to, as well as provide a standard to measure how well the system is working.
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines involve a complex formula that calculates an offense level based on several factors, such as nature and complexity of the crime, any injuries to victims, your criminal history, and any mitigating factors. This formula then results in a certain number of points, which gives a recommended range of incarceration time.
