{
  "id": "RL30888",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30888",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 102078,
      "date": "2001-03-15",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:26:32.694941",
      "title": "Federal Sentencing: How Much May the Judge Decide - The Impact of the Supreme Court's Decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey",
      "summary": "In  Apprendi v. New Jersey , 120 S. Ct. 2348, 2355 (2000), the Supreme Court\nheld \"under\nthe due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the notice and jury trial guarantees of the Sixth\nAmendment, any fact (other than a prior conviction) that increases the maximum penalty for a crime\nmust be charged in an indictment, submitted to a jury, and proven beyond a reasonable doubt,\" 120\nS. Ct. at 2355.\n  In earlier cases, the Court had held that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a due process\nprerequisite for conviction; that the burden of proving any element of a crime may not be shifted to\nthe defendant, although the defendant may be afforded the benefit of establishing a lesser included \noffense; that mandatory minimum penalties may be established and imposed; and that the fact of prior\nconviction may be used to increase as much as ten fold the penalty for the offense found by the jury.\n  \n  Following the decision, the lower federal courts have held that (1) the rule applies to federal\ndrug trafficking cases and other cases under similar statutes, (2) it does not apply to the use of prior\nconvictions as a sentencing factor, (3) it does not bar the use of mandatory minimum sentencing\nprocedures unless the statutory maximum penalty for the underlying crime is exceeded, (4) it does\nnot invalidate the federal sentencing guidelines, (5) its retroactive application to past cases is limited,\nand (6) even when the rule applies an earlier sentence may be allowed to stand if the fact improperly\nwithheld from the jury is admitted, indisputable, or inconsequential.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL30888",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law"
  ]
}