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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.
What should California do with its (former) juve killer?
Posted on April 26, 2009This New York Times piece, headlined "A Killer at 16, and Still in California?s Juvenile Justice System Decades Later," documents a notable case that perhaps lacks any easy solution. Here is how the piece starts: Except for one detail and...
Kansas appeals court strikes down "branding" requirement for sex offender
Posted on April 26, 2009As detailed in this local news report, a "Kansas appeals court has ruled that a judge overstepped his authority when he ordered a man to put up signs announcing that he was a sex offender." Here are a few more...
A simple plea for Prez Obama: grant at least a single clemency in your first 100 days
Posted on April 25, 2009As evidenced by this Politico feature and this New York Times article, there is already no shortage of buzz and analysis of President Obama's first 100 days. Let me add my meta-punditry with a spin on the plea that titles...
"Money, Morality, and Repealing the Death Penalty"
Posted on April 25, 2009The title of this post is the title of this notable commentary on the PBS website. Here is an excerpt from the middle of the piece: For many death penalty opponents, New Mexico?s repeal was the result of years of...
Ceremonial signing of New York drug law reforms
Posted on April 25, 2009This local piece provides this effective report on the ceremonial event yesterday in New York to mark the state's recent drug sentencing reforms: Gov. David Paterson did a ceremonial signing in Queens [Friday] of a bill that reduces sentences for...
Sentencing in medical marijuana case impacted by statutory minimums
Posted on April 24, 2009This article from the Los Angeles Times reveals the continued impact of mandatory minimum sentencing statutes even though the guidelines are advisory. Here are a few of the details: The sentencing of a man who has become a key figure...
Notable (and major?) child porn ruling from the Second Circuit
Posted on April 24, 2009Regular readers may recall US District Judge Jack Weinstein's fascinating Polizzi decision last year, in which he ruled that he should have informed the jury of which counts in a child pornography case carry mandatory minimum sentences (basics here, early...
District court resists excessive piling of mandatory minimum 924(c) sentences
Posted on April 24, 2009Thanks to this post at the Second Circuit Sentencing Blog, I discoverd a notable opinion from last month by Judge Jed Rakoff dealing with extreme mandatory minimum stacking 924(c) gun sentences. Though the procedural posture and precise ruling US v.....
"Imprisoned by stereotypes"
Posted on April 24, 2009Inside Out, the online magazine of the Prison Fellowship, has this interesting cover story with the same title as the title of this post. Here is how it gets started: When the average person conjures an image of a prisoner,...
"House Members Push Supreme Court Toward Transparency"
Posted on April 24, 2009The title of this post is the title of this great new piece by Tony Mauro in the Legal Times. Here are excerpts: The annual House hearing called to consider the Supreme Court's budget request began with its usual rituals...
Flawed HLR note on federal white-collar sentencing
Posted on April 23, 2009The April 2009 issue of the Harvard Law Review includes this student Notefocused on federal white-collar sentencing, titled "Go Directly to Jail: White Collar Sentencing After the Sarbanes-Oxley Act." Here is how the note's conclusion starts: If the purpose of...
Are federal prosecutors over-charging the Somali pirate?
Posted on April 23, 2009This recent AP article has me wondering if federal prosecutors should be accused of "over-charging" the Somali pirate (and also wondering if anyone really cares if they are). Here are excerpts from an interesting piece, which is headlined "Prosecutors beefed...
Will "National Call-In Day for Justice" achieve anything?
Posted on April 23, 2009I have already received two (not quite distinct) e-mails reminding me that today is "national Call-In Day." Here are parts of these e-mails: From FAMM: Help flood Congress with calls! Call your federal lawmakers today and tell them that it...
Scholarly examination of New Jersey's death penalty repeal
Posted on April 23, 2009I just notice on SSRN these two pieces that have emerged from the symposium held at Seton Hall in 2008 to discuss the death penalty in New Jersey: Herald of Change: New Jersey's Repeal of the Death Penalty Litigation, Legislation,...
Proposal to cut drug offense sentences in the UK
Posted on April 23, 2009Especially during National Call-In Day in the US (background here), folks might be intrigued to see this report of a significant development in drug offense sentencing in the UK: Long prison sentences for drug barons are ineffective as a deterrent...
New note on sex offender residency restrictions in new Drexel Law Review
Posted on April 22, 2009Thanks to this post at The Faculty Lounge, I see that "the moment has arrived for the first issue of the Drexel Law Review," and that it includes a "strong student note ... on sex offender residency restrictions." In fact,...
Notable and encouraging comments from new USSC chair-nominee
Posted on April 22, 2009This morning's Rutland Herald has this new piece, headlined "Sessions tapped for federal position," that with lots of intriguing comments from the new nominee for the head of the US Sentencing Commission. Here are some highlights: Judge William Sessions, who...
Too much of a good thing at the new site The Legal Workshop?
Posted on April 22, 2009I am pleased to report on a new scholarly on-line project (which I hope will evolve to better achieve its laudatory goals). The project is the Legal Workshop, and here is its basic mission statement: The Legal Workshop is a...
Another victim loss in a CVRA ruling from the Tenth Circuit
Posted on April 22, 2009Today the Tenth Circuit has issues another opinion in the interesting victims rights case In re Antrobus (available here). Here is the concluding section of the opinion: This case has a frustrating procedural history. It is, for example, regrettable that...
Effective review of Third Circuit's remarkable recent sentencing work
Posted on April 21, 2009Writing in The Legal Intelligencer, Shannon P. Duffy has this new piece headlined "3rd Circuit Hands Major Victories to Criminal Defense Bar." The piece effectively reviews the two huge sentencing rulings from the Third Circuit last week (blogged here and...
How might new drug war buzz impact SCOTUS student strip-search case?
Posted on April 21, 2009As detailed in this SCOTUSblog post, the Supreme Court this morning hears an interesting Fourth Amendment case: [T]he Court will hear argument in Safford Unified School District v. Redding (08-479), on the constitutionality of strip-searching a student at a public...
Judge Sessions, vice-chair of the USSC, now officially nominated to be chair of USSC
Posted on April 21, 2009This press release from the White House details that yesterday President Obama made official a nomination that had been rumored for some time: Today, President Obama announced that he is nominating Judge William K. Sessions III to be the Chair...
Huge opinion concluding(?) Ohio lethal injection litigation
Posted on April 21, 2009A helpful readers sent me a copy of the latest federal district court ruling in Ohio's lethal injection litigation. The ruling in Cooey v. Strickland is 159 pages(!) and it starts and ends this way: This matter is before the...
Might the Somali pirate have an Apprendi claim to try to thwart his federal prosecution?
Posted on April 21, 2009This latest news from New York federal courts all of a sudden gives me a great excuse to end my afternoon with a little pirate blogging from Apprendi-land: A Somali teenager accused of holding hostage a U.S. ship captain in...
Colorful developments from the Centennial State
Posted on April 21, 2009Thanks to two posts from TalkLeft, I see that there are colorful sentencing developments from the great state of Colorado: Colorado House Votes to Repeal Death Penalty and Denver Post Urges Feds to Legalize Marijuana. Though these developments surely do...
Injustices, waste and mis-management in Texas capital defense system
Posted on April 20, 2009Providing a fitting follow-up to The Constitution Project's important report on indigent defense (discussed here), the Houston Chronicle has this effective and important article headlined "Death row lawyers get paid while messing up: Attorneys who continue to miss appeal dates...
"America Should Decriminalize Drugs"
Posted on April 20, 2009According to this piece at The Daily Beast, the title of this post is "what César Gaviria, the former president of Colombia, tells the Daily Beast in an exclusive interview following Obama's visit to Latin America." Here is more from...
The real story of the death penalty in Kansas and Pennsylvania
Posted on April 20, 2009I always appreciate reporting and analysis of the death penalty that moves beyond the usual (boring) rhetoric and looks at the reality of how the system gets applied in particular states. And, helpfully, two new newspapers articles from Kansas and...
How about some targeted clemency grants to save $100 million of federal tax dollars?
Posted on April 20, 2009This new Politico piece, headlined "Obama to order $100 million in cuts," spotlights this latest news from the White House: At the first Cabinet meeting of his presidency, President Obama on Monday will challenge the departments to collectively cut $100...
SCOTUS grants cert in three criminal cases (including the "animal porn" case)
Posted on April 20, 2009As detailed in this postat SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court this morning "has granted certiorari in three cases: Bloate v. US, US v. Stevens, and Pottawattamie County et al. v. McGhee et al." As revealed by these SCOTUSblog summaries, all these...
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Japan's International Child Abduction Policy
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On the face of it, you may be wondering what eminent domain,...
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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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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