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Guidelines As Guidelines: Lessons From The History Of Sentencing Reform, Rakesh Kilaru

Rakesh Kilaru

Over the last thirty years, sentencing guidelines have become an increasingly prominent feature of the American criminal justice system. Between the Supreme Court’s Apprendi-Blakely-Booker line of cases, dedicated law reviews like the Federal Sentencing Reporter, multitudinous other law review pieces, and Doug Berman’s famous sentencing blog, a great deal of ink has been spilled discussing the contours and future of guidelines reform. Most of this scholarship, however, falls in one of two camps. In one camp are scholars who chronicle the history of sentencing guidelines in particular states. In the other are scholars who discuss guidelines as a national phenomenon, …