Uncharged Crimes

One of the most troubling aspects of modern criminal practice is that a sentencing judge can, and indeed, is encouraged by the sentencing guidelines, to dramatically increase the length of a person's sentence for a crime based upon other crimes for which they were not convicted (and perhaps may even have been acquitted) with only a flimsy evidentiary basis.

The Sentencing Law and Policy blog has been covering the issue for some time and addresses it most recently in a case from the 11th Circuit involving a sentencing enhancement based on hearsay evidence of an uncharged murder established by only a preponderance of the evidence.