Sentencing guidelines: What the new interpretation means for compliance
Health Care Auditing Strategies, May 1, 2005
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The guidelines are no longer mandatory, but they still matter
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court reached a watershed decision, declaring the federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional. Now judges are able to make their own sentencing decisions, using the guidelines as merely that: guidelines.
Does this affect corporate compliance? It does and it doesn't, according to Ronald H. Levine, Esq., and Amy J. Conway, Esq., Both attorneys discussed the impact of the landmark decision on healthcare compliance during the March 25 HCPro, Inc., audioconference "Overturning the Sentencing Guidelines: Impact on Compliance and Internal Investigations."
A 'creature of Congress'
Congress created the sentencing guidelines in 1987 to meet several goals: to create uniform sentencing for different regions of the country, stiffen penalties for drug-related and violent offenses, and guarantee tougher sentences for white-collar criminals.
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