Following an introductory overview that gives perspective to the Federal sentencing guidelines, two chapters discuss the guidelines' impact on law enforcement, officers' discretion, and crime control and deterrence. Turning to an examination of the guidelines' impact on the courts, the contributors address prosecutorial discretion in plea bargaining, judicial discretion and sentencing disparities, case processing and sentencing alternatives, and how predictions of dangerousness affect the sentencing process. In their analysis of the relationship between the sentencing guidelines and corrections trends, the contributors examine issues such as community-based corrections and privatization, inmate litigation and constitutional issues, and the measurement of recidivism. In the concluding chapter, the editor summarizes the problems posed by the sentencing guidelines as presented in other chapters. He concludes that the guidelines are inadequate to deter crime, incapacitate the offender, provide just punishment, and rehabilitate offenders. Appended supplementary information for the student and researcher, chapter tables and notes, 340-item bibliography, case index, subject index, name index. (Publisher summary modified)