Sentencing Commission Shifts Focus to White Collar Sentence
Reform
By Derek Gilna
For the
past several years, the main proponent of sentencing reform at the federal
level has been the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
While most of its policy emphasis has been on providing a mechanism for
reducing the sentences of drug offenders, due largely to their greater
incarceration levels, white collar sentence relief has also been on the
Commission’s informal agenda. There has been
an obvious need for reform on so-called “loss” calculations, which often seem
to be argued by prosecutors with little or no factual underpinning, and greatly
inflate white-collar sentences, much as “relevant conduct” has been used to
increase drug sentences.
The U.S.
Sentencing Commission has officially made “consideration of federal sentences
for economic crimes and continued work on addressing concerns with mandatory
minimum penalties,” one of its priorities for 2015. For those of you have followed the workings
of this powerful bureaucracy will note that this is the same pattern that
developed that led to crack law sentence reduction, as well as the recent
two-level reduction for drug offenders.
My
suspicion is that as soon as the November elections are completed you might
very well see Congressional action on sentencing reform in the “lame-duck”
session at the end of the year. When the
electoral pressures of the election cycle are completed, there is a greater
chance that the new sentencing reform laws that have passed out of committee can
progress to a vote, and ultimately, passage into law. That appears to also be the thrust of the
Sentencing Commission’s recent publicity statements, which both challenge and
encourage Congress to match Commission reforms with those of their own.
There also
appears to be a movement to redefine what constitutes a “crime of violence,”
and “drug trafficking offense,” whose overbroad interpretation by prosecutors
has also led to unnecessarily long sentences.
This could be an overlooked avenue of future sentence relief.
As
developments continue, I will make you aware of them. If you need someone to help you navigate
these complicated avenues for possible sentence relief, why not seek help from
those whose commitment to prisoner relief stems from years of experience? The choice is clear.
