REVISING FEDERAL SENTENCING POLICY - SOME CONSEQUENCES OF EXPANDING ELIGIBILITY FOR ALTERNATIVE SANCTIONS

Although the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 advocated the use of ''leas t restrictive alternatives,'' the U.S Sentencing Commission has devise d guidelines that authorize prison for all felony convictions. Noninca rcerative sentences are available for low-level offenders, but researc h has shown that the use of probation and other alternative sanctions has declined since the full-scale adoption of the guidelines in 1989. Applying criteria for imposing sentences of imprisonment adopted by th e National Council on Crime and Delinquency to U.S. Sentencing Commiss ion data from 1992 and 1993, we show that a large number of cases in t he federal caseload that were considered ineligible for nonincarcerati ve sanctions may merit ''a second look'' and be considered for alterna tive sentences.