Wide Disparity in White-Collar Sentences.

• Position: Brief Article

In the nation's Federal courts, some districts are far more likely to send convicted white-collar criminals to prison than are others, according to statistics gathered from Department of Justice data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a group of Syracuse (N.Y.) University researchers. The data illustrate that, nationwide, about half of convicted white-collar criminals were sentenced to prison. However, in the Western District of Wisconsin, the toughest in the nation, nearly 85% were put behind bars, while 26% in the District of New Jersey, one of the most lenient, were sent to prison.

In addition to the Western District of Wisconsin, the country's other toughest districts are the District of Rhode Island, the Middle District of Louisiana, the Southern District of Georgia, and the Southern District of Iowa, all of which sent at least 70% of white-collar criminals to prison. At the other end of the sentencing spectrum are the Districts of Arizona, New Jersey, and Montana, all of which sent less than 30% to prison. This disparity in sentencing continues to exist despite Federal guidelines that were put in effect in 1987 in an attempt to gain uniformity.

Some experts think that the inconsistency can be explained by the power prosecutors hold in determining how charges are brought. In many cases, they have leeway on issues such as what charges to bring...