"Most federal judges not comfortable with tough guidelines"

"Most federal judges not comfortable with tough guidelines"

The title of this post is the headline of this article about federal child porn sentencing realities appearing in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette.  Here is how it gets started:

Before Richard Leo Smith III could ask for leniency for possessing child pornography, a federal judge in Pittsburgh signaled he would grant it.  The judge disagrees with guidelines that recommend a minimum of more than six years in prison.  "The guideline is largely the product of congressional directives," U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster said recently, before sentencing Smith, 28, of Indiana Township to 2-1/2 years in prison.

A survey this year suggests a similar scenario plays out frequently across the country. About 70 percent of federal judges think sentencing guidelines for possession or receipt of child pornography are unreasonable.  The U.S. Sentencing Commission intends to review the guidelines.  The stakes could hardly be higher: years of defendants' lives vs. the safety of children.

Public defender Penn Hackney, who represented Smith, told Lancaster that uncertainty about the guidelines put him in a bind.  Some federal judges limit sentences to probation in such cases; others hand out 10 years or more in prison.  "This landscape is so shifting, I don't know what to ask for anymore," Hackney said.

Some related prior federal child porn prosecution and sentencing posts:

• "More federal child porn prosecutions in Texas than bank robberies, mail fraud or wire fraud"
• Split Third Circuit affirms way below-guideline sentence in major(?) child porn ruling
• "The Efficacy of Severe Child Pornography Sentencing: Empirical Validity or Political Rhetoric?"
• Major reasonableness ruling from Second Circuit in child porn downloading case
• Fascinating data on recent trends and circuit specifics for federal child porn sentences
• Is DOJ eager for (and obliquely urging) reducing the severity of the federal sentencing guideline for child porn downloading?
• "Federal judges argue for reduced sentences for child-porn convicts"
• Thorough and thoughtful district court defense of federal child porn guidelines
• "Judge Weinstein Takes On Child Pornography Laws"
• Effective local reporting on realities and debates surrounding federal sentencing guidelines for child porn
• "Disentangling Child Pornography from Child Sex Abuse"
• Noting the latest data showing reduced (but disparate) federal sentences for child porn downloaders