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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 991. United States Sentencing Commission; establishment and purposes
(a) There is established as an independent commission in the
judicial branch of the United States a United States Sentencing
Commission which shall consist of seven voting members and one
nonvoting member. The President, after consultation with
representatives of judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense
attorneys, law enforcement officials, senior citizens, victims of
crime, and others interested in the criminal justice process, shall
appoint the voting members of the Commission, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, one of whom shall be appointed,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as the Chair and
three of whom shall be designated by the President as Vice Chairs.
Not more than 3 of the members shall be Federal judges selected
after considering a list of six judges recommended to the President
by the Judicial Conference of the United States. Not more than four
of the members of the Commission shall be members of the same
political party, and of the three Vice Chairs, no more than two
shall be members of the same political party. The Attorney General,
or the Attorney General's designee, shall be an ex officio,
nonvoting member of the Commission. The Chair, Vice Chairs, and
members of the Commission shall be subject to removal from the
Commission by the President only for neglect of duty or malfeasance
in office or for other good cause shown.
(b) The purposes of the United States Sentencing Commission are
to -
(1) establish sentencing policies and practices for the Federal
criminal justice system that -
(A) assure the meeting of the purposes of sentencing as set
forth in section 3553(a)(2) of title 18, United States Code;
(B) provide certainty and fairness in meeting the purposes of
sentencing, avoiding unwarranted sentencing disparities among
defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of
similar criminal conduct while maintaining sufficient
flexibility to permit individualized sentences when warranted
by mitigating or aggravating factors not taken into account in
the establishment of general sentencing practices; and
(C) reflect, to the extent practicable, advancement in
knowledge of human behavior as it relates to the criminal
justice process; and
(2) develop means of measuring the degree to which the
sentencing, penal, and correctional practices are effective in
meeting the purposes of sentencing as set forth in section
3553(a)(2) of title 18, United States Code.
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