- Concerned with disparate sentencing procedures in federal courts around the country, Congress created the U.S Sentencing Commission in 1984, which promulgated the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to ensure greater uniformity among federal courts across the nation. The guidelines only apply to felonies and Class A misdemeanors. Although originally intended to be mandatory on all federal courts, the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), held that the guidelines as imposed violated the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Since then, courts have construed the guidelines to be merely advisory and no longer mandatory. Judges must take the guidelines into account when sentencing a criminal convict, but they are not required to stay within the sentencing limits.
- Many corporations employ ethics and compliance programs to prevent and detect violations of law among their employees. These compliance programs include a code of conduct along with a plan of action once that code has been violated. Chapter 8B of the "Sentencing Guidelines Manual" addresses the organization of such compliance programs, offering recommendations as to how to set up and run these programs. Some of the recommendations include disallowing anyone who has conducted illegal activity in the past from overseeing the compliance program, effective communication of its standards to all employees and periodic review of the program's effectiveness.
- The Sentencing Commission adopted revisions to Chapter 8B in April 2010, which have had an impact on these compliance programs. The changes in essence impose stricter requirements once the business discovers a legal violation, including immediate reporting to the authorities, prompt restitution to victims and cooperation with the police.
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