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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.
How many states are being forced by economic realities to consider releasing prisoners?
Posted on December 21, 2008This local story from Virginia, headlined "Kaine?s plan calls for release of inmates," has me wondering how many states are being forced to consider inmate releases because of economic difficulties. Here is the start of the piece from Virginia, which...
Could there be a link between certain types of military service and criminal behavior?
Posted on December 21, 2008The front page of this morning's Los Angeles Times has this provocative article headlined, "'Lethal Warriors' in Iraq, linked to string of crimes back home." Here are exceprts from the article: On Nov. 30, 2007, Kenneth Eastridge, a wiry, heavily...
Reviewing the lengthy appeals process for capital cases
Posted on December 21, 2008New Hampshire sentenced a killer to death this week for the first time in a very long time. As this effective local article highlights, the new death sentence means that folks in the Granite state will now get a first-hand...
Notable names for number two at DOJ
Posted on December 20, 2008Now available at law.com is this article from Legal Times discussing the names making the rounds for the second spot at the Justice Department in the Obama Administration. Here are snippets from the article: With congressional pressure mounting, the short...
Good reads for sentencing fans in The Champion
Posted on December 20, 2008I just noticed that much the September issue of the NACDL's journal, The Champion magazine, is available at this link. The issue is focused on white-collar crimes and includes a number of pieces that should be of special interest to...
Urging President-elect Obama to elevate disctrict judges to the circuit courts
Posted on December 20, 2008Emily Bazelon and Judith Resnik have this effective piece at Slate making a pitch for the elevation of district judges to circuit courts. The essay is titled, "Sitting on Great Judges: Where Obama should look when he makes his first...
"Rewarding Prosecutors for Performance"
Posted on December 20, 2008The title of this post is the title of this new article appearing on SSRN from Professor Stephanos Bibas (who has another recent piece on regulating prosecutors that is also a must-read). Here is the abstract of this article: Prosecutorial...
Eleventh Circuit grants mandamus in CVRA case
Posted on December 19, 2008The Eleventh Circuit issued late today an important CVRA ruling with a short opinion in In Re: Janice W. Stewart And Other Borrower-Crime Victims, No. 08-16753-G (11th Cir. Dec. 19, 2008) (available here). Here is how the opinion starts: The...
Louisiana child rapist officially comes off state's death row
Posted on December 19, 2008Patrick Kennedy is surely the most famous child rapist sentencing to death, since his case went all the way the the Supreme Court and led to the Kennedy ruling that the Eighth Amendment precluded all capital child rape sentencing. But...
Long child porn sentence affirmed by Eleventh Circuit
Posted on December 19, 2008The Eleveth Circuit has a long opinion today in US v. Horsfall, No. 08-10739 (11th Cir. Dec. 19, 2008) (available here), rejecting various challenges to a long child-porn sentence. Here is how the decision starts: Raymond J. Horsfall appeals the...
A must-read for those doing habeas work or just deep fed courts thinking
Posted on December 19, 2008A new forthcoming article now appearing here via SSRN is a must-read for any and everyone working on, even even thinking about, habeas proceedings. This new piece is titled "The Future of Teague Retroactivity, or ?Redressability,? after Danforth v. Minnesota:...
Seeking SCOTUS speculations during the Justices holiday break
Posted on December 19, 2008Last year around this time, wehad the Supreme Court's then-fresh opinion in Gall and Kimbrough to keep us warm through long winter nights. This year, though we have lots of new USSC data to unpack, the Justices failed to beat...
Fourth Circuit affirms upward departure in notable obscenity case
Posted on December 19, 2008The Fourth Circuit's work in US v. Whorley, No. 06-4288 (4th Cir. Dec. 18, 2008) (available here) is already getting attention from other bloggers because of the panel's split of the reach of federal obscenity law. But the case should...
"Madoff Mercy: How long should the Ponzi schemer go to prison for?"
Posted on December 18, 2008The title of this post is the title of this Slate commentaryby Harlan Protass, who uses all the ugly Wall Street news to spotlight the the over-emphasis of loss in how the federal sentencing guidelines deal with white-collar fraud. Here...
Judge Gertner applies the safety valve while imposing a within-guideline sentence
Posted on December 18, 2008It is been a while since I have had a chance to talk up a new sentencing opinion from federal District Judge Nancy Gertner. Joyfully, she provides sentencing fans with an early holiday present today through a lengthy opinion in...
Tenth Circuit affirms sex offender conditions in sentencing for bank thefft
Posted on December 18, 2008The Tenth Circuit's ruling today in US v. Hahn, No. 07-5117 (10th Cir. Dec. 18, 2008) (available here), might be filed under the heading "bad defendants make bad law." Hahn involves a defendant who pilfered $20 bills as an ATM...
A clemency recipient makes case for the good clemencies
Posted on December 18, 2008Sadly, the specter of ugly pardons past (Marc Rich) and ugly pardons future (possible preemptive torture pardons) is giving the historic Presidential clemency power a bad name these days. Fortunately, some of the tales of good clemencies present are getting...
"Lethal Injection and the Problem of Constitutional Remedies"
Posted on December 18, 2008The title of this post is the title of this new paper by Professor Eric Berger available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: Many states' lethal injection procedures contain serious flaws that create a significant risk of excruciating pain, but,...
Will the Obama Administration embrace and promote the faith-based prison movement?
Posted on December 18, 2008One of the few positive sentencing and corrections stories these days involves the apparent successes of faith-based prisons. A helpful reader sent me this news story from Oklahoma, headlined "Faith builds character: Inmates learn new ways to rebuild their lives,"...
How might police departments of school districts use $3 million in Fulton County, Georgia?
Posted on December 18, 2008This new piece from the New York Times, headlined "In Georgia, Push to End Unanimity for Execution," spotlights some of the consequences of a few Georgian jurors' decision to resist imposing a death sentence on courthouse killer Brian Nichols. The...
Another example of drunk driving sentencing problems
Posted on December 18, 2008This local news report from New Mexico, headlined "Study: Repeat DWI Offenders Not Getting Help," reinforces my enduring concern that criminal justice systems often do not effectively respond to the crime of drunk driving. Here are some details from the...
California court rejects Second Amendment attack on public firearm possession crime
Posted on December 17, 2008A helpful reader sent me an e-mail altering me to a new decision dealing with a Heller-based Second Amendment claim in a Califorinia criminal case. The ruling in People v. Yarbrough, No. A120721 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. Dec. 17, 2008)...
'tis the season ... to litigate creatively?
Posted on December 17, 2008This local AP story out of Ohio that just has to put everyone in a holiday (litigation?) mood: A Christmas tree inside a northwest Ohio village police department is decorated with more than just the usual trimmings. Mug shots of...
Eighth Circuit affirms reduced sentence on resentencing in light of Gall
Posted on December 17, 2008Despite a well-deserved reputation for rigorous reasonableness review after Booker, the Eighth Circuit today in US v. Bueno, No. 06-4216 (8th Cir. Dec. 17, 2008) (available here), shows its softer side in the wake of Gall. The full opinion in...
Notable new stories from the most dysfunctional sentencing state
Posted on December 17, 2008In the wake of Blogo-gate, there has been lots of talk about what state should be considered most politically corrupt. That got me to thinking about which state should be considered most dysfunctional when it comes to sentencing. And these...
White-collar fraud meets technocorrections for Bernie Madoff
Posted on December 17, 2008There are already too many notable stories surrounding the Bernie Madoff fraud for me to cover them well, and the MSM is covering a lot of the bases already. But, thanks to WSJ Law Blog post, I see that we...
"Recidivism as Omission: A Relational Account"
Posted on December 17, 2008The title of this post is the title of this articleby Professor Youngjae Lee now available via SSRN. This abstract makes clear that this article has to be on every sentencing fan's holiday reading list: Are repeat offenders more culpable...
Sentencing toughness one-way-ratchet warming up in North Carolina
Posted on December 17, 2008Despite tough budget times and lots of reason to believe over-punishment is a bigger problem than under-punishment, the social and political forces that drive (very costly) sentencing toughness seem to be heating up in North Carolina. Here are the details...
EJI files seeks cert on claim that juve LWOP is unconstitutional for 13-year-old offender
Posted on December 17, 2008I just received a helpful e-mail from the folks at Equal Justice Initiative informing me of a recently filed cert petition challenging under the Eighth Amendment a sentence of life without parole given to an offender who was only 13...
An effective call for President Bush to be a truly "compassionate conservate" with his clemency power
Posted on December 17, 2008Over at Pardon Power, P.S. Ruckman has a number of great new posts, including this one noting that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is reported to be reviewing prison inmate petitions for clemency while he ignores calls for his resignation. And...
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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
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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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