Capitalizing on a fractional factorial design, vignettes were constructed for 20 major crime categories chosen by U.S. Sentencing Commission staff to represent either a major portion of the Federal caseload or crimes of special interest. The sample design called for 1,500 face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of adults (18 years old or older) living in the continental United States. The findings show that although at the individual level only a modest degree of concordance was found between public attitudes and sentencing guidelines, the central tendencies of public opinion (median sentences) were found to correspond closely to the guidelines sentences. The major points of disagreement were associated with drug trafficking crimes. The guidelines prescribed long sentences for those crimes and distinguished sharply among trafficking in heroin, powder cocaine, and crack; whereas, median sentences desired by the public were much lower and did not distinguish sharply among trafficking in those drugs. 3 tables, 3 figures, and 17 references