Articles on the Federal sentencing guidelines criticize them for being too severe, too inflexible, and too restrictive of judicial discretion. Suggestions for reform of the guidelines and their use are offered. Articles on the use of punitive civil sanctions agree that punitive civil sanctions have increased in recent years to rival and sometimes exceed the severity of criminal sanctions. There are some differences of opinion on how best to respond to this trend to ensure that as civil defendants are faced with harsher sanctions they are afforded commensurate due-process protections similar to those in criminal proceedings. Although one author believes that expanded due process rights in civil proceedings will increase their use in lieu of criminal proceedings, another author believes that such a trend would tend to blur the distinction between civil and criminal proceedings to the detriment of defendants in civil proceedings. Two articles on plea bargaining discuss the advantages and disadvantages of increasing the regulatory structure for plea bargaining, and a third article argues for the abolition of plea bargaining. For individual articles, see NCJ 144567-76.