POLS 121 Chapter Notes - Chapter NA: Sixth Amendment To The United States Constitution, Jury Trial
18 Nov 2020
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The crucial criminal cases that will start the new supreme court. Before the federal guidelines, federal judges wielded incredible power at sentencing: they could give a defendant any sentence the relevant statute allowed. This range was often as wide as 10 or 15 years (1) tremendous inequities resulted. This has troubled many observers because the jury is not hearing evidence about the impact of the crime. During the supreme court"s last term in the case of blakely v. washington, the court finally addressed these issues. In a 5-4 decision that shook the foundation of state and federal sentencing, the court held the state of washington"s criminal sentencing system was unconstitutional. But these ramifications could apply across the entire country: the court decided that the 6th amendment guarantee of a jury trial does not simply mean that a jury trial must precede a conviction.
