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> it's fake predictability so, a criminal defendant and their lawyer have no better chance of predicting the sentence handed down given guidelines than they wo
by HillaryBriss 10y ago
> it's fake predictability
so, a criminal defendant and their lawyer have no better chance of predicting the sentence handed down given guidelines than they would if there were no guidelines?
- kpil 10y agoGuidelines are the opposite of a rule-based system, as you are free to use your judgement and use them for comparison only. Guidelines are not a black box that spits out a number of month in prison.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> Guidelines are not a black box that spits out a number of month in prison. The Sentencing Guidelines are exactly a white box (a black box has concealed internal operations) that spits out sentences. OTOH, since they aren't mandatory (by Supreme Court ruling; they were originally statutorily mandatory), they don't produce exactly the same rule-based system as they superficially represent.