By Anaximander Mars
Following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Congress directed the U.S. Sentencing Commission to amend its Sentencing Guidelines to prescribe a steeper penalty for acts that involve or intend to promote international terrorism. The result is the terrorism sentencing enhancement, which automatically sets a floor of 210 to 262 months when calculating the recommended sentence for defendants before other adjustments. But this one-size-fits-all penalty, while appropriate for the worst offenders intending mass murder, sweeps too broadly and recommends severe sentences for any defendants accused of antigovernment conduct. Prosecutors request the terrorism enhancement not only for terrorists intending mass murder or bodily harm, but also for unruly protestors intending small-scale property damage and civil disobedience. This Comment proposes reforming the enhancement by implementing a tiered system that recommends sentencing adjustments for anti-government criminal conduct according to the offense type and the degree of intended or actual violence and property damage.