The End of the Era of Sentencing Guidelines: Apprendi V. New Jersey
31 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2002
Abstract
The Supreme Court's recent decision in Apprendi held that the federal constitution requires that any sentencing factor, except for prior convictions, that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. On the one hand, Apprendi will likely have little impact on the formal predominance of legislatures over criminal law and procedure: legislative control over the definition of crimes and designation of statutory penalties persists. Apprendi's legacy with respect to criminal justice, however, should prove significant. Apprendi exacerbates the trend initiated by the federal sentencing guidelines to enhance prosecutorial discretion at the expense of judicial discretion. By effectively multiplying the number of criminal statutes, Apprendi promises to convert federal criminal sentencing from a guidelines system to a statutory sentencing system. Because prosecutors exert substantial control over charging and counts of conviction, this trend diminishes the importance of fact-finding by the jury at trial and by the judge at the sentencing phase.
Keywords: Apprendi v. New Jersey, federal sentencing guidelines, statutory maximum, beyond a reasonable doubt, legislative control, prosecutorial discretion, judicial discretion, statutory sentencing system
JEL Classification: K14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation