1,301 bytes added
, 04:11, May 1, 2007
Sentencing Guidelines are recommended ranges of punishment for criminal defendants after they have been convicted of a crime. Judges use guidelines in many jurisdictions in deciding how much punishment, usually measured in months in jail, to impose on a convicted criminal. The federal government, several states, and some nations nations in Europe utilize sentencing guidelines.<ref>http://www.scottishsentencingcommission.gov.uk/docs/consistency/Sentencing%20Guidelines%20Around%20the%20World.pdf</ref>
The United States Sentencing Guidelines establish a base level offense number range for each crime, which amounts to a recommendation to the judge to sentence the defendant somewhere in the range depending on particular circumstances and degree of wrongdoing. Then the base level offense number is combined with the defendant's prior criminal history, if any, to calculate the total number of months in jail for the defendant.
Examples of the base level offense range are bribery (seven to twelve), insider trading (eight), and blackmail (nine), money laundering (17 to 23) and serious drug trafficking charges (26 to 38). At lower levels each point corresponds to about a half-year in jail, but at higher levels each point corresponds to longer punishment.
== References ==
<references/>