Resentencing is the adjustment of a criminal sentence due to a problem or error with the original punishment.There can be numerous reasons that can be grounds for significant reductions in federal criminal justice sentences in the United States. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and U.S. Sentencing Guidelines require that the prosecution to file a motion allowing the reduction. The court is not required to grant the reduction, and may decline to do so if it deems the information provided by the defendant to be untruthful, incomplete, unreliable, insignificant, not useful, or untimely.
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Offenders can be resentenced to harsher punishments if they violate conditions of their supervison or probation. Among the controversial aspects of the Sentencing Guidelines have been the 100:1 disparity between treatment of crack and cocaine (which has been amended to 18:1 by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010) and is set be amended again this year. See the Proposed Ammendments to Sentencing Guildines. Other issues exist in immigration guidelines which call for hefty enhancements for illegal re-entrants with prior felony records, despite the prior offenses already being taken into account via the Criminal History Category. Child Pornography cases also have had many controversial aspects as Judges often refuse to use the Sentencing Guildelines in these cases. For more information on resentencing visit the United States District Court website or review the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Title VII, Post-Conviction Procedures).
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