University of Richmond Law Review Volume 45 | Issue 2 Article 8 1-1-2011 Blowing Out All the Candles: A Few Thoughts on the Twenty-Fifth irB thday of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 J. C. Oleson University of Auckland Department of Sociology Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview Part of the Law and Politics Commons, Legal History Commons, and the Legislation Commons Recommended Citation J. C. Oleson, Blowing Out All the Candles: A Few Thoughts on the Twenty-Fifth Birthday of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 45 U. Rich. L. Rev. 693 (2011). Available at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol45/iss2/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Richmond Law Review by an authorized editor of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. BLOWING OUT ALL THE CANDLES: A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY OF THE SENTENCING REFORM ACT OF 1984 J.C. Oleson * I. INTRODUCTION Happy Birthday, Sara! Yes, I know that your full name is the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1987, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq. and 28 U.S.C. §§ 991 to 998, but that's an awful mouthful. And really, you'll always be just "SRA"-Sara-to me. Sara, 2009 was your twenty-fifth birthday and in your honor, throughout 2009 and early 2010, the United States Sentencing Commission ("Commission") held parties across the country.' Yes, I know, officially they called them regional hearings, convened * Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Auckland.