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October 6, 2015
"Unsophisticated Sentencing"
The title of this post is the title of this notable paper about a notable federal sentencing provision authored by Miriam Baer and now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This essay, written for the Wayne Law Review’s 2014 Symposium on white collar crime and sentencing, examines the rising popularity of the “sophisticated means” enhancement under Section 2B1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Over the past decade, the rate at which federal courts apply the enhancement in criminal fraud cases has more than tripled.
This Essay considers several possible explanations for the enhancement’s increasing prevalence, including the possibilities that: (i) fraud offenders as a whole have become more sophisticated; (ii) federal prosecutors are investigating and charging more sophisticated frauds; and (iii) the enhancement’s meaning has, over time, gradually expanded to include additional conduct, a phenomenon I refer to as “sentencing creep.” With this final explanation in mind, the Essay concludes with some practical advice for reinvigorating the enhancement as a useful sorting device.
October 6, 2015 at 11:12 PM | Permalink
Comments
per the Courts EVERYTHING is "sophisticated"...this is a meaningless enhancement used to increase sentencing. It is also almost impossible to argue Against.
Posted by: folly | Oct 7, 2015 11:06:59 AM
Yet another means -- as if more were needed -- to coerce confessions. The turkey-shoot continues under the guise of a justice system.
Posted by: John K | Oct 7, 2015 3:06:44 PM