Sentencing Guidelines in South Korea: Lessons from the American Experience

Abstract

This article discusses the enactment of the Sentencing Reform Act by the United States Congress, the enactment of sentencing guidelines by the South Korean legislature, and the effects of these enactments on the U.S. and on South Korea. The Sentencing Reform Act in the U.S. was the culmination of almost a decade of hearings, committee mark-ups and floor consideration in the U.S. Congress which begun in 1976 with the introduction of a bill by Senator Edward M. Kennedy authorizing the appointment of a commission for the purpose of promulgating sentencing guidelines for court consideration. After enactment in 1984, for over twenty years sentencing power was gradually consolidated into the federal prosecutor office until in 2005 the United States Supreme Court in a landmark decision deemed unconstitutional the mandatory nature of the sentencing guidelines. However, as the United States upreme Court was ending the twenty year legislative experiment in mandatory sentencing, the South Korean legislature was beginning the process of enacting legislation that would lead to strict sentencing guidelines for South Korea.