| Ask the Expert |
Q: What are the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and why are they important?
A: Officially the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are known as the United States Sentencing Guidelines. These Guidelines control the sentencing of organizations for most federal criminal violations. The original Guidelines became effective in 1991. One critical component of the Sentencing Commission’s effort to prevent and deter organizational wrongdoing through its design of the guidelines was its creation of a sentencing credit for organizations that put in place “effective programs” to prevent and detect violations of law. The 1991 Guidelines became the basis and defacto standard for development of corporate compliance programs.
Q: Who is affected by the recent changes to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines?
A: All organizations are affected. The healthcare industry in particular through the Office of Inspector General has published its own compliance guidance using the Sentencing Guidelines as the basis.
Q: When did the changes become effective?
A: They took affect November 1, 2004.
