ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the ideological and political text of the sentencing reforms, examines get-ugh legislation in three states and on the Federal vel, and considers the consequences of increasing sentencing severity. The review suggests that baseball sentencing will further distort the distribution of punishments and will contribute to an escalation of political posturing on crime policies. Coincidently to Allen Davis' arrest, the FBI released its semiannual tabulation of crime which 'showed that the rate of crime as a whole declined 5 percent in the first six months of 1993 from the same period the year before and that the rate of violent crime dropped 3 percent. With crime uppermost in voters' minds, the new Federal crime bill was frequently featured in the 1994 election campaigns. Incumbent members of Congress informed their constituents of the immediate effects of the legislation on their home state.
