Nearly 70% of those surveyed do not think mandatory guidelines are necessary to direct the sentencing process. The latest survey, The United States Sentencing Guidelines: Results of the Federal Judicial Center's Survey - A Report to the Committee on Criminal Law of the Judicial Conference of the Unites States is based on completed questionnaires from 591 district judges, 140 circuit court judges and 89 chief probation officers. It is the most comprehensive inquiry into judicial attitudes since the enactment of the Sentencing Reform Act.

Major findings include:

• 86% of district judges and chief probation officers agree the guidelines give too much discretion and control to prosecutors;

• Only 13% of district judges and 19% of probation officers think acquitted conduct should be considered at sentencing;

• 64% of district judges believe first-time offenders should be eligible for alternatives to incarceration; 47% would apply this to nonviolent offenders in general; 67% would apply this to offenders with extenuating circumstances;

• 85% of district judges believe the "safety valve" should be expanded to permit more defendants to be eligible for sentence reduction.

You can download the entire document and others from the Federal Judicial Center at www.fjc.gov/pubs.html.

In October 1992 the Federal Judicial Center surveyed nearly all federal judges on a wide range of issues of concern to the federal courts. The survey had a high response rate of 81.5 percent. Of particular interest to the Coalition is the section on criminal sanctions.

Planning for the Future:
Results of a 1992 Federal Judicial Center Survey of United States Judges
Percentage of All District Judges (N=639)

Survey Item	Strongly support	Moderately support	Have mixed feelings	Moderately oppose	Strongly oppose	No opinion	No opinion/ inexperience/ no answer
Retain the current system of mandatory sentencing guidelines	5.8	9.9	10.2	10.0	61.5	0.5	2.2
Change current sentencing rules to increase the discretion of the judge	71.8	14.6	5.2	3.8	1.4	0.6	2.7
Retain sentencing guidelines but make them advisory only	30.5	26.8	14.6	9.7	14.4	1.1	2.8
Refrain from enacting more legislation mandating minimum sentences	79.0	8.6	3.9	3.0	2.2	0.8	2.5
Repeal most or all mandatory minimum sentences	67.3	12.1	8.6	5.3	3.9	0.5	2.3
Eliminate the sentencing guidelines	40.7	10.3	17.8	13.6	14.9	0.3	2.2

Source: Federal Judicial Center 1994