Defendant Score Law and Legal Definition
Defendant score refers to a number taken from an established scale, indicating the relative seriousness of the defendant's criminal history. This is relevant during sentencing.
An example of a Federal Case using the term:
when a defendant scores sufficient criminal history points to place him in category VI, the district court may depart upward on the ground that even the highest category seriously under-represents the seriousness of the defendant's criminal history. [United States v. Shannon, 414 F.3d 921, 923-924 (8th Cir. S.D. 2005)]
