The United States Sentencing Guidelines are used to help judge’s in federal court determine a proper sentence.  Until 2005, the Guidelines were mandatory, meaning that judges were required to follow them.  The Supreme Court subsequently made the Guidelines advisory, but they still profoundly influence the sentences handed out in federal court.  Calculating the sentence under the Guidelines is a complicated process that takes into consideration the offense conduct, the defendant’s role in the offense, the amount or quantity of illegal items involved (for example, the number of images in a child pornography case), and the defendant’s criminal history.