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Judicial Discretion and Sentencing Behavior: Did the Feeney Amendment Rein in District Judges?
Author(s) -
Freeborn Beth A.,
Hartmann Monica E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of empirical legal studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1740-1461
pISSN - 1740-1453
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-1461.2010.01181.x
Subject(s) - sentencing guidelines , judicial discretion , discretion , law , political science , prison , amendment , criminal procedure , criminology , psychology , judicial review , sentence , computer science , artificial intelligence
This research studies the impact of changes to judicial discretion on criminal sentencing outcomes. The 2003 Feeney Amendment restricted federal judges' ability to impose sentences outside of the Sentencing Guidelines and required appellate courts to review downward departures. Using data on all federal sentences between 1999 and 2004, we show that the amendment reduced downward departures by 5 percent. Controlling for characteristics of the crime and the offender, we find that the Amendment increased average prison sentences by about two months. There is no evidence that judges adjusted offense levels or criminal history in order to circumvent the Amendment.