Nov 2023: The new Guidelines are here, the new Guidelines are here!!
Though now nearly a 50-year-old reference, today I still cannot help but think of a silly scene from “The Jerk” in which Steve Martin’s character is so excited about the new phonebook arriving, which he think means “things are going to start happening” now. In the sentencing universe, the new book that arrives on November 1 is the new official revised version of the US Sentencing Guidelines. And this date is especially exciting because the new Nov 2023 Guidelines are the first substantively new version of the book since 2018 because the US Sentencing Commission was without a quorum for nearly four years.
Helpfully, the US Sentencing Commission sent out an email yesterday highlighting all the new resources related to the new guidelines. Here is part of the text and links of this email:
The 2023 Guidelines Manual can now be accessed online in PDF, annotated HTML, and mobile-friendly app formats. Hard copies are en route to Federal Judges, U.S. Probation Officers, Federal Public Defenders, U.S. Attorneys, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and Commission Advisory Group members. The GPO Bookstore will also soon have hard copies publicly available for purchase.
2023 Annotated Manual
The official online version of the Guidelines Manual includes quick integrated access to guidelines history and reasons for amendments…. Explore the Annotated Manual
2023 Guidelines App
The Guidelines App offers easy on-the-go access to the Guidelines Manual (with add-on features below) through any internet browser — no download or installation necessary….. Explore the App
2023 Amendments In Brief
Access the 2023 Amendments In Brief for a quick recap of each amendment, including the issue that prompted Commission action and the reasons for the amendment.
I have highlighted some of the biggest ticket items in the new federal sentencing guidelines in a number of prior posts, a few of which are reprinted below. And because there is surely much to litigate about the new guidelines (especially the criminal history rules which are to be applied retroactively), I expect there will be a number of future posts about the new guidelines.
A few of many prior related posts:
- US Sentencing Commission promulgates numerous consequential new guideline amendments (while defering resolution of other big issues), with big division on compassionate release
- Has the US Sentencing Commission now “overruled” circuit decisions saying changes in law cannot provide a basis for 3582(c)(1)(A) sentence reduction?
- Highlighting US Sentencing Commission’s significant amendments to federal guidelines’ criminal history rules
- US Sentencing Commission votes to make its new criminal history amendments retroactive and adopts new policy priorities
- Gearing up for new guidelines amendments becoming law and working through criminal history retroactivity