Prof. Sam Merchant Interviewed by Law360 About Amendments to Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Professor Sam Merchant was interviewed by Law360 about the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s proposed amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines. The proposed new amendments could lead to shorter prison terms for many offenders, including by revising loss calculations for financial crimes and providing a first-of-its-kind path to reward defendants for post-offense, pre-sentence rehabilitative efforts. Of the proposals, Prof. Merchant said, “[One proposed change to the guidelines] is an incentive for defendants to establish that they are redeemable, they are coachable and they're receptive to treatment. The guidelines don’t explicitly consider rehabilitation pretty much anywhere. And so this would be kind of a departure from the existing guidelines, and the tradition of the guidelines, which tends to focus, in my view, on retribution and maybe deterrence, not rehabilitation.”