美國聯邦量刑指導原則
GOP Seeks Big Changes In Federal Prison Sentences
by Carrie Johnson
January 31, 2012
Every year, federal judges sentence more than 80,000 criminals. Those punishments are supposed to be fair — and predictable. But seven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court threw a wrench into the system by ruling that the guidelines that judges use to figure out a prison sentence are only suggestions.
Republicans in Congress say that has led to a lot of bad results. They're calling for an overhaul of the sentencing system, with tough new mandatory prison terms to bring some order back into the process. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, brought up the subject at a recent hearing.
"A criminal committing a federal crime should receive similar punishment regardless of whether the crime was committed in Richmond, Va., or Richmond, Calif., and that's why I am deeply concerned about what's happening to federal sentencing," Sensenbrenner said.
每年，聯邦法官會有超過80000名之被告判刑，理論上，這些刑度都應該是公平的且可預見的。但是，七年前，美國最高法院提出了一個判決認定:法官使用之量刑指導原則，僅具有建議性質(換言之，不具有強制性)。共和黨在國會說，該項判決已導致許多不好之結果，且呼籲重新檢視美國量刑系統，並賦予強制性之效力，讓美國量刑具有一定之秩序性(有規則可循)。
來自威斯康州的共和黨眾議員詹姆斯·森森布倫納，在最近的一次聽證會上提出了這個問題。森森布倫納說：“犯相同之聯邦犯罪，不論該犯罪行為是否在里士滿(弗吉尼亞州)，或里士滿(加利福尼亞州)為之，均應得相近之處罰，因此對於目前聯邦量刑體系究竟發生了什麼況狀備感關切"。
Since the Supreme Court acted in 2005 to make the sentencing guidelines advisory — not mandatory — Sensenbrenner said, judges in places like New York City have imposed sentences below the guideline ranges almost half the time. But judges only a few hours further north in New York are still following the guidelines.
自2005年最高法院作出"量刑指導原則"僅具建議性質知該項判刑後，紐約市法官判決之刑度幾乎只有"量刑指導原則"的一半。但在距離紐約市只有幾個小時之紐約州，紐約州法官仍然遵循著該量刑指導原則。
Former prosecutor Matt Miner — who also served as GOP congressional aide — says that's not justice.
The way you make sure the guidelines get due respect is to make them respectable.
- Douglas Berman, Ohio State University law professor
"We have a federal system. There should be consistency not just in the same courthouse and on the same floor, or district by district, but across the country, and we're failing in that," Miner says.
Douglas Berman, a law professor and sentencing expert at Ohio State University, said, "The way you make sure the guidelines get due respect is to make them respectable."
前檢察官Matt Miner -前擔任共和黨國會助理 -表示:這非正義。你如果要確保該原則得到應有之尊重，應該是讓該原則值得尊敬。
俄亥俄州立大學法學教授道格拉斯·伯曼表示:“我們只有一個聯邦系統，所以應該具有全國一致性，不應該僅在同一法院的同一樓層或者特定區域內才有一致性。
A lot of people argue that ever since the Supreme Court weighed in, black men have it a lot worse.
Judge Patti Saris of Massachusetts leads the congressionally created U.S. Sentencing Commission. Saris spoke about the issue at a panel sponsored by the American Constitution Society and the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington earlier this month.
"The average sentence for a black male was 20 percent longer than that for a white male. ... And I think what's important to add there is that no one here is accusing judges of being racist," Saris said.
So, then, what's going on?
"It's not that the black male sentences are going up. It's that the white male sentences are going down," Saris said.
Berman, the law professor, says judges think many of the suggested punishments are too tough, especially in the areas of corporate fraud and child pornography, where the guidelines call for people who download images of children to sometimes get upward of 20 years behind bars.
"There's 2,000 child porn cases, and about 1,200 of them have below-guideline sentences, and they're all white defendants," Berman said. "And so now I think the easiest explanation for that entire 20 percent — or if not the entire 20 percent, than at least a big part of that — is, in fact, white child porn downloaders are getting significant leniency."
The sentencing commission studies that feedback, Saris said, and it really tries to make things better. For example, next month the commission will hold a hearing on whether child porn sentences are fair.
"Congress thinks about the world's worst offender when they're setting up a mandatory minimum," Saris said. "They're thinking about the big bad guy that we'd all agree, 'Gee, just send that person away.' But ... often, for every horrible, horrible [case] you tell me about, I can think of a situation which is far less severe."
I would urge the commission to maybe sell Congress on the idea that the system is working pretty well.
- Amy Baron-Evans of the Federal Public and Community Defenders
Saris said despite all the criticism, the great majority of judges still give out punishments within the range of the old guidelines, even though they're no longer mandatory. She said she continues to think the best approach is to keep the advisory guidelines for sentencing and to adjust them as needed based on feedback from judges.
Amy Baron-Evans, who works for the Federal Public and Community Defenders, said there's nothing wrong with the way things are going now, and Congress shouldn't take away the discretion judges have to evaluate each defendant case by case.
"I would urge the commission to maybe sell Congress on the idea that the system is working pretty well," Baron-Evans said.
But that message can be politically unpopular, with some Republicans suggesting they might propose new mandatory sentences and cut the budget of the sentencing commission.
"I love that everybody wants to talk about how severe the system is," said Michael Volkov, a former prosecutor, at the recent panel discussion in Washington. "I'm sorry — politically, that is going nowhere, folks. It's going nowhere."
Former prosecutor Bill Otis, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee last year, gave voice to those concerns.
"The commission either should return to its main job, creating mandatory guidelines, or give the taxpayers a refund," Otis said.
The House Judiciary Committee is planning more hearings on the issue this spring.
很多人認為，從最高法院權衡中，黑人男子所得刑度也差距很多。馬薩諸塞州的法官帕蒂紗麗(美國國會創建量刑委員會)談到的問題:在本月初美國憲法學會和美國公民自由聯盟在華盛頓主辦的一個小組。“黑人男性平均刑期長較白人男性多了20％......我認為什麼重要的是，這樣的結果，竟然沒有人指責法官有種族主義之疑，紗麗說。”所以，那麼，究竟是怎麼回事？“這不是黑人男性的刑度在增加，反而是白人男性的刑度在下降，”另外有許多的處罰又過於沒有彈性，特別是在企業詐欺與兒童色情製品方面，指引打電話的人、下載兒童色情的圖像者，有時會遭判決達20年以上。
伯曼說，有2,000兒童色情案件中，約1200所得之刑度低於量刑指導原則，這些被告都是白人被告。 “所以我現在想的，上開20％最簡單的解釋，至少很大一部分是，白人下載兒童色情圖片者顯然受到顯著地從寬處理。
委員會下月將舉行聽證會，檢視兒童色情的量刑是否是公平的。“紗麗說，”國會認為世界上最壞的罪犯時，他們設置了強制性的最低標準。
"該系統工作得很好。" 艾米聯邦公共及社區男爵 - 埃文斯後衛莎麗說，儘管有批評，但絕大多數的法官仍然給出了舊準則範圍內之刑罰，即使量刑指導原則不再是強制性的。她說，她仍然認為最好的辦法是保持判刑指導原則之諮詢性(非強制性)。艾米男爵埃文斯，聯邦公共及社會的捍衛者的工作，說:"現行方式沒有什麼錯誤，國會不應該干涉法官對具體個案的自由裁量權。"，“巴朗埃文斯說：”也許銷售大會上，該系統是相當不錯的想法，我會敦促委員會。"
一些共和黨人也暗示他們可能會提出新的強制性刑罰的規定，否則該削減量刑委員會的預算。
前檢察官比爾奧的斯，去年在眾議院司法委員會作證說:該委員會應返回其主要工作，建立具有強制性的量刑指導原則，不然，就將錢退還給納稅義務人。內政司法委員會正計劃在這個問題上在今年春舉辦更多的聽證會。
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/31/146081922/gop-seeks-big-changes-in-federal-prison-sentences
Wan-Li Yang
