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Sentencing Law and Policy 
News, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
Post Frequency: 77.7/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 10:54:24 Recent Entries: 4815
By Douglas A. Berman
Go to Sentencing Law and Policy, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Dreier gets 20 year federal prison sentence
Posted on July 13, 2009As detailed in this Bloomberg article, "Marc Dreier, the New York law firm- founder, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for defrauding hedge funds of more than $400 million and stealing money from his clients." Here are more details...
"The Unexceptionalism of Evolving Standards"
Posted on July 13, 2009The title of this post is the title of this new article from Professor Corinna Lain. It looks like an interesting and important and timely piece with the SCOTUS confirmation hearing now on-going and the big SCOTUS juve LWOP cases...
House hearing on "Mandatory Minimums and Unintended Consequences"
Posted on July 12, 2009Though nearly all eyes this week will be on the Senate Judiciary Committee as the confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor get started, sentencing fans should be sure to take note of a hearing scheduled for Tuesday in the House. Specifically,...
A few confirmation questions for criminal justice fans from Senator Cornyn
Posted on July 12, 2009As explained here, in the run up to Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, Texas Senator John Cornyn for the last few weeks has been posting questions about Judge Sotomayor's record and her views on the law and the Constitution The full...
Noticing some gendered realities of death penalty administration
Posted on July 12, 2009This local article from Alabama, headlined " Death row-worthy crimes largely committed by men," spotlights a couple of issues about death penalty administration that I always find notable. Here are snippets: If a Franklin County judge overrides a jury's recommendation...
Constitutional rejection of severe mandatory minimum sentence getting attention for circuit nominee
Posted on July 12, 2009This effective new article in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution , which is headlined "Appeals nominee set sentence rule aside," reviews a notable ruling in a federal sex offense case by one of President Obama's latest circuit court nominees. Here are a...
"Prolonged Solitary Confinement and the Constitution"
Posted on July 11, 2009The title of this post is te title of this new piece by Jules Lobel now available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article will address whether the increasing practice of prolonged or permanent solitary confinement constitutes cruel and...
Execution chambers starting to heat up for the dog days of summer
Posted on July 11, 2009The nation's execution chambers were pretty quiet through the month of June: after a single execution in Ohio and another in Texas at the very start of the month, there was only one more execution (in Alabama) before the calender...
Is real fundamental, structural change on the horizon for the federal sentencing system?
Posted on July 10, 2009As detailed in this report about the US Sentencing Commission regional hearing in New York this week, a number of federal judges are urging the USSC to work on big, structural sentencing reform. In the words of Judge Dearie: "It...
"21-month sentence for man who beat fellow golfer with 6-iron"
Posted on July 10, 2009The title of this post is the headline from this local sentencing story that seems to provide a great setting for a little friday frivolity. First, here are the basics: A Puyallup man who assaulted a fellow golfer with a...
Legal challenge to Washington's lethal injection methods turned away
Posted on July 10, 2009This new AP story, headlined "Judge affirms Wash. lethal injection method," provides details on another failed challenge to a state execution protocol. Here are th basics: A judge has affirmed Washington state's procedures for executing prisoners by lethal injection, turning...
Important and heartening new speech from AG Eric Holder
Posted on July 10, 2009Attorney General Eric Holder delivered this speech at the Vera Institute of Justice last night. There are too many notable sections of this long speech to cover here, so I will just call the whole speech a must-read. Here is...
Of note and interest around the blogosphere
Posted on July 10, 2009As is often the case, a quick tour of the blogosphere reveals lots of interesting and notable reading from some of my favorite blogs: From Crime & Consequences here, "Sex Offender Assessment Tool Held Inadmissible" From Grits for Breakfast here,...
Effective and fascinating report on USSC regional hearing in NYC
Posted on July 10, 2009I was pleased to see this report from Bloomberg news, headlined "Judges Call on U.S. to Simplify Sentencing Guidelines," covering yesterday's first day of the US Sentencing Commission's regional hearing in New York City. Here are extended excerpts from an...
"Prosecutors Resort to Wealth Porn in Dreier Case"
Posted on July 10, 2009The title of this post is the title of this entry at the WSJ Law Blog discussing the latest filings from the parties in the upcoming sentencing of Marc Dreier (basics here). Here is the setting which a grand new...
The audacity of having hope and dreams inside the Supermax walls
Posted on July 10, 2009Here is a new AP report that seems likely to make Shawn Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage all smile. The piece is headine "Supermax prison: Obama's books objectionable," and here are snippets: The federal government's most secure prison has...
What questions should Judge Sotomayor be asked in her confirmation hearing?
Posted on July 10, 2009The WSJ Law Blog has this timely new entry, titled "Sotomayor: A Guest?s Perspective On What Senators Should Ask The Judge." In what appears to be part of a developing series, Professor Heather Gerken in this post suggests that Senators...
Fascinating new TRAC report on Judge Sotomayor's sentencing record
Posted on July 09, 2009The folks at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) hav produced a fascintaing report on the sentencing patterns of Judge Sotomayor when she was a district judge. This TRAC press release describes the report as a "first-of-its kind analysis of...
Interesting split Tenth Circuit ruling on ineffectiveness assistance at plea stage
Posted on July 09, 2009Yesterday the Tenth Circuit handed down an interesting little ruling in Williams vs. Jones, No. 06-7103 (10th Cir, July 8, 2009) (available here), concerning the rules and remedies surrounding ineffective assistance of counsel at the plea stage of a criminal...
Seeking reports from today's NYC regional Sentencing Commission hearing
Posted on July 09, 2009As noted in this recent post and as detailed in this brief public notice, the US Sentencing Commission starts today another of its terrific regional public hearings. This third regional public hearing is in New York City; this official agenda...
UCLA Law Review symposium on Heller and the Second Amendment
Posted on July 09, 2009Thanks to this post at Concurring Opinion, I see that the UCLA Law Review has now published a terrific (and large) issue devoted to "The Second Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms After D.C. v. Heller." This issue, which...
"Madoff won't appeal 150-year sentence, attorney says"
Posted on July 09, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this new story from CNN. Here are a few more details: "We are not going to appeal," Madoff attorney Ira Lee Sorkin told CNN on Thursday. Sorkin said he met with...
Split Ninth Circuit ruling reversing a jury verdict in a prisoner lawsuit
Posted on July 09, 2009A Ninth Circuit panel splits today in the prisoner litigation case of Norwood v. Vance, No. 07-17322 (9th Cir. July 9, 2009) (available here). The dispute at issue is summarized in the first sentence of the majority opinion: "We consider...
Law professor letter supporting Judge Sotomayor with lots of signatures
Posted on July 08, 2009This press release from Columbia Law School, which is titled "Nearly 1,200 Law Professors Unite to Back Sotomayor Nomination to Supreme Court," reports on an effort to which I have devotes a bit of time and energy. Here are the...
Two (very?) important rulings on sentencing authority from the Sixth Circuit
Posted on July 08, 2009Today the Sixth Circuit published two important sentencing opinions: a long new one covering lots of issues in US v. Herrera-Zuniga, No. 08-1540 (6th Cir. July 8, 2009) (available here), and a short older and previously unpublished one in US...
In praise of Texas justice (and shame on the press and public policy activists) on juve LWOP
Posted on July 08, 2009Thanks to a comment to this post, Scott of Grits for Breakfast informed me that "Texas abolished life without parole for juveniles this year legislatively. The Governor signed it. It's now a 40-year minimum for juveniles convicted of capital murder...
What are proper sentencing considerations for forty-year-old crimes?
Posted on July 08, 2009This article, headlined " Elderly Man Appeals Sentence On Historic Sex Charges," present is an interesting sentencing story from New Zeland: Neville Earnest Hearling, then 76, from Wanganui, was sentenced in March to three years and three months in prison...
Are quirky supervised release conditions getting out of hand?
Posted on July 08, 2009A little unpublished per curiam opinion from the Eighth Circuit today in US v. Lacey, No. 07-2436 (8th Cir. July 8, 2009) (available here), prompts the question in the title of this post. In Lacey, the defendant "pleaded guilty to...
The "Bernie benchmark" already brought to bear in Dreier case
Posted on July 08, 2009Right after last week's sentencing of Bernie Madoff, I explained here why I thought Judge Chin's decision to impose a sentence of 150 years really mattered for the federal sentencing system. As I explained in this post, "though the choice...
Of interesting around the blogosphere
Posted on July 07, 2009Here are just a few of the great recent posts which ought to be of interest to sentencing fans that I noticed around the blogosphere: From Concurring Opinions here, "Truthseeking and Criminal Procedure in the Supreme Court?s Last Term" From...
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I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
My job requires me to drive bank deposits up to two times a day using my own vehicle and gas. Although not too far, can should I be receiving compensation? One deposit run is required daily by company policy, but the man
you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
from what you have put here yo...
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