New Guideline Amendments Effective Today, November 1, 2007

The new guideline amendments promulgated this past year become effective today, November 1, 2007.

The amendments to section 2D1.2 of the sentencing guidelines are perhaps of the greatest interest. The Drug Quantity Table has been amended so that, for most offenders with crack, the offense level will decrease by two levels. The difficult question is whether the amendment will be retroactive; the USSC will be holding a meeting on this topic on November 13, 2007. If retroactive, many former clients may be entitled to resentencing. Families against Mandatory Minimums has additional information at its website, http://www.famm.org/.

Many other amendments, some related to the Adam Walsh Act, have also been promulgated. There are also amendments to the guidelines governing criminal history calculations, which may result in lower criminal history scores for some. For instance, fish and game violations have now been moved to the "never counted" list of Section 4A1.2. The definition of when prior convictions are related so that they are not counted separately has also been clarified.

For more information please visit the US Sentencing Commission website: http://www.ussc.gov