Cozen O’Connor attorneys Barry Boss and Kara Kapp published an essay in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law on the arbitrary and disproportionate sentencing recommendations driven by the economic crimes sentencing guideline. The essay reviews the history of the guidelines and explains why the current loss tables are manifestly unfair and overstate culpability. The essay further analyzes data recently released by the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Interactive Data Analyzer. As detailed in the essay, the data offers important insights for the Sentencing Commission. Most notably, the data reveals that the guideline’s draconian recommendations have resulted in unwarranted sentencing disparities among similarly situated offenders based purely on the jurisdiction in which a defendant is tried. Finally, the authors offer solutions aimed to address these unwarranted disparities.
The essay can be found here.