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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.
"Uncertainty in the Theory of Deterrence: Experimental Evidence"
Posted on May 05, 2009The title of this post is the title of this interesting paper by two economists that I came across on SSRN. Here is the abstract: We conduct laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of deterrence mechanisms under controlled conditions. The...
Giving credit where credit is due for providing a different perspective on SCOTUS nominees
Posted on May 05, 2009I am pleased to see that columnist Stephen Henderson, in this newspaper piece headlined "Age and the Supreme Court," makes reference to this blog post of mine from yesterday titled "For the Supreme Court, Younger Isn?t Necessarily Better." However, though...
A helpful release at the start of the US Sentencing Commission's data conference
Posted on May 05, 2009As previously blogged here, the United States Sentencing Commission is conducting a multi-day data and research conference, which started today. Not coincidentally, I suspect, one can now find this new publication on the USSC's website: Introduction to the Collection of...
Could vocal opposition to the death penalty, mass incarceration and the drug war help lead the GOP out of the wilderness?
Posted on May 05, 2009The party switch of Senator Spector, after big losses in the last two elections, has conservative pundits talking about how the Republican party can get its mojo back. For example, I heard on NPR yesterday this segment with David Frum...
Looking (a bit too hard) for problems for SCOTUS short listers
Posted on May 05, 2009I am a bit disappointed, though not really surprised, by this new Slate piece from Emily Bazelon, titled "Future Dangerousness: The tricky sex offender case that could trip up one of the judges on the short list to replace Souter."...
Chief district judges press AG Holder on various sentencing fronts
Posted on May 05, 2009The National Law Journal has this interesting new piece headlined "Attorney General Promises Judges a New Day at DOJ." Here are some of the notable sentencing-related highlights: In his first confab with the nation's chief federal district judges, Attorney General...
What might (and should) DOJ and other potential amici say about Graham and Sullivan?
Posted on May 04, 2009I am already having a hard time not getting too excited about the Supreme Court's cert grant today in the juve LWOP cases of Graham and Sullivan (basics here). Part of the excitement relates to the fact that we can...
The (unpreserved?) procedural issues in Graham juve LWOP case
Posted on May 04, 2009Thanks to SCOTUSblog's post here, everyone can now check out this cert petition in Graham v. Florida, the juve LWOP case that the Supreme Court decided to take up today (basics here). Assuming the fact statement in the Grahampetition is...
California takes steps to get executions going again
Posted on May 04, 2009As detailed in this Sacramento Bee article, headlined "State seeks to start executions again with new rules," California has taken a crucial step to get back to conducting executions. Here are the basics: California took a major step Friday to...
"For the Supreme Court, Younger Isn?t Necessarily Better"
Posted on May 04, 2009A law-school classmate of mine was kind enough to allow me to post here his terrific bloggy op-ed with advice for President Obama as he considers his first Supreme Court nominee. The piece caries the same title as this post...
Unanimous SCOTUS win for defendant in Flores-Figueroa
Posted on May 04, 2009Providing a notable contrast to last week's ruling in Dean (basics here), today the Supreme Court vindicates a federal defendant's mens rea claim in the interpretation of an identity-fraud statute. Here are the basics from SCOTUSblog: The Court has released...
SCOTUS grants cert in Sullivan, juve LWOP case
Posted on May 04, 2009As detailed in this order list, among the cases in which the Supreme Court granted cert this morning is Sullivan v. Florida. As detailed in posts linked below, Sullivan involves an Eighth Amendment challenge a sentence of life without parole...
Has there been any in-court impact from DOJ's new crack sentencing policy?
Posted on May 04, 2009The new crack sentencing policy talk from the new Justice Department (basics here and here) has justifiably garnered lots of media attention. For example, over the weekend the San Francisco Chronicle had this front-page article, headlined "Advocates predict change in...
Analyzing the cert grants in both Graham and Sullivan
Posted on May 04, 2009Over at SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston has this interesting new post titled "Analysis: Why two juvenile sentence cases?". Here is a snippet of Lyle's analysis: With a continuing wave across the country of tougher punishment for youths who commit serious crimes,...
Attacking the federal sentencing guidelines based on moral obligations
Posted on May 04, 2009"A Personal Affair: Moral Obligation and the New Common Law of Sentencing" is the title of this new piece on SSRN authored by Hans Grong. Here is the abstract: Sentencing has a tortured history in the federal system. The Sixth...
Another notable lean-times report on the prison economy
Posted on May 04, 2009The Salt Lake Tribune has this interesting piece, headlined "Probation and parole officers stretched thinner: Corrections struggles to track offenders in tight budget times," providing another on-the-ground prespective of the criminal justice impact of lean economic times...
Banishment a popular (but uneven?) special punishment in Georgia
Posted on May 03, 2009As detailed in this effective local article, headlined "More than 500 people have been banished from Houston County," one Georgia county makes banishment a (semi)regular punishment for certain offenders. Here are the particulars: More than 500 people have been banished...
A sentencing aside amidst all the SCOTUS speculation
Posted on May 03, 2009Today's above-the-fold front-page article in the New York Times is all about President Obama's legal past as he prepares to make a pick for the Supreme Court's future. This article, which is headlined "As a Professor, a Pragmatist About the...
The steady stream of child porn sentencings
Posted on May 02, 2009I continue to find notable how many seemingly upstanding citizens find there way into federal prison for downloading kiddie porn. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle reports here that a "former aide to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer was sentenced Friday...
Two notable ex post rulings on sex offender registration from Indiana Supreme Court
Posted on May 02, 2009As detailed in this local article, headlined "Rulings affect sex offender state registry," the Indiana Supreme Court had two significant rulings this week about ex post facto limitations on the application of sex offender registration rules. Here are the basics:...
NC Supreme Court addresses doctor involvement in executions
Posted on May 02, 2009As detailed in this local article, headlined "Justices overrule medical board: It had limited role of doctors at executions," the North Carolina Supreme Court yesterday issued a major opinion concerning doctor involvement in execution protocols. Here are the basic details:...
Alabama judge orders killer dad to take daily look at his victims
Posted on May 02, 2009As detailed in this local AP article, an Alabama state judge added a novel condition when sentencing a killer to death earlier this week. Here are the details: A judge on Thursday ordered a death sentence for a coastal Alabama...
California appellate court finds juve LWOP sentence unconstitutional
Posted on May 01, 2009A helpful reader pointed me to an important ruling yesterday from a california appellate court finding a juvenile life sentence unconstitutional. The ruling in In re Nunez, No. G040377 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. April 30, 2009) (available here), starts this...
New York Times editorial on crack sentencing
Posted on May 01, 2009The New York Times has this new editorial, headlined "Fairness in Drug Sentencing." Here are snippets: Congress?s decision to mandate longer prison terms for people arrested with crack cocaine than those caught with the powdered form of the drug was....
Souter, short list speculations and sentencing spins
Posted on May 01, 2009As detailed in this CNN article, Associate Justice David Souter has now officially announced that he will retire from the Supreme Court. As we come to expect, SCOTUSblog is a great resource on this story, and it has this post...
A close look at Alabama's experiences with sentencing reform
Posted on May 01, 2009In my view, there is clearly far too little scholarship on state sentencing systems (and probably too much on the federal sentencing system). It is thus exciting and refreshing to see this new piece on SSRN by Joseph Colquitt, titled...
Former GC for Gen Re gets relatively short prison sentence
Posted on May 01, 2009This article from The National Law Journal, which is headlined "Former Assistant GC Sentenced in General Re Fraud Case," reports on a notable white-collar sentencing that took place yesterday. Here are excerpts: The former assistant general counsel of General Re...
Colorado death penalty repeal bill continues moving forward
Posted on April 30, 2009As detailed in this local article, a bill in Colorado to repeal the state's death penalty continues to march forward: A proposal to eliminate the death penalty in Colorado has cleared another hurdle. The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs...
Executions in Georgia and Texas this week
Posted on April 30, 2009While another western state is getting closer to death penalty repeal this week (basics here), two active capital punishment state have their execution chambers active. Specifically, as detailed in this AP article, Georgia executed a murderer last night, and Texas...
Comparative examiniation of proportional punishments
Posted on April 30, 2009I just saw on SSRN this new piece, titled "Proportionality in the Criminal Law: The Differing American versus Canadian Approaches to Punishment." Here is the abstract: The focus of this Article shall be upon the Eighth Amendment of the United...
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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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