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Criminal Law

Sentencing Law and Policy

News, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
By Douglas A. Berman

Post Frequency: 77.7/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 10:54:24

Interesting line of attack against the death penalty

Posted on June 17, 2008
This new Baltimore Sun article, headlined "Capital case lawyer pay called low: Defense attorneys say death penalty should not apply," reports on an interesting attack on the application of the death penalty in Maryland. Here is how the article starts:...

Final version of "Engaging Capital Emotions"

Posted on June 17, 2008
The Supreme Court should soon hand down its opinion about the constitutionality of capital child rape laws. While we wait, readers are welcome to check out the finalized version of the commentary Stephanos Bibas and I put together, titled "Engaging...

State-wide residency restriction becomes law in South Carolina

Posted on June 17, 2008
As detailed in this AP article, South Carolina has joined the ranks of states with state-wide residency restrictions for sex offenders: Sex offenders won't be able to live within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers or playgrounds under legislation...

Upcoming JEC hearing on costs of US drug policy

Posted on June 16, 2008
According to this webpage at FAMM, later this week "Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) will convene a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) to examine the economic consequences of the United States' drug policy." Here are more details: The hearing,...

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Primer on modern post-Booker realities for white-collar cases

Posted on June 16, 2008
Thanks to a friendly reader and West's copyright kindness, I can post a copy of a recent commentary by Ellen Brotman titled "From Jones to Rita, Gall and Kimbrough: The Supreme Court Gives Sentencing Back To the District Courts." In...

Will Texas try to ensure record death-row stay gets longer?

Posted on June 16, 2008
As detailed here at SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court's work today did not include any notable criminal justice decision. As detailed in this AP article, however, the Justices did make headlines with a notable cert denied in a capital case: The...

More on the Waybright decision finding federal SORNA provision unconstitutional

Posted on June 16, 2008
As first noted in this post, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy last week found constitutional problems with provisions of the Adam Walsh Act in US v. Waybright, No. CR 08-16-M-DWM (D. Montana June 11, 2008). I just received from a...

The important project of "Deconstructing the Guidelines"

Posted on June 16, 2008
As detailed way down on this federal defender resource page, the federal defenders are starting an important new project entitled "Deconstructing the Guidelines." Here is how the project is described on the FD resource page: Deconstructing the Guidelines is a...

"Kiwis take to the streets over crime"

Posted on June 16, 2008
Though the headline of this story may sound fruity, the piece reports on a growing controversy in New Zealand over parole policies. Here are the details (which explain the notable picture): [A]bout 500 people marched to "take back" their suburb...

Is Jesus the answer to overcrowded prisons?

Posted on June 15, 2008
This local article, headlined "Jesus and drug court: Packed prisons lead to jail alternatives," provides a divine response to mass incarceraton Here are snippets: One look at the members of Twin Falls' Because of Jesus Ministries makes its obvious these...

The politics and practicalities of a post-Heller Second Amendment world

Posted on June 15, 2008
With two weeks to go in the Supreme Court term, the media and pundits are starting to gear up for what it might mean politically if (when?) the Justices hold in Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right...

Good thoughts on good and bad works at sentencing

Posted on June 14, 2008
Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick now has posted here on SSRN a great new paper on a sentencing topic I have always found very interesting (and underexplored in the academic literature). This piece is titled "Why are Only Bad Acts Good...

Another federal district judge finds constitutional problems with Adam Walsh Act

Posted on June 14, 2008
Though I am still thinking about what to think about Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's kinky computer activities (basics here and here), there is a much more consequential federal sex offense story brewing concerning the SONRA provisions of the Adam Walsh....

Hard times making it hard to run our criminal justice system

Posted on June 14, 2008
From ABC News comes this interesting article, headlined "Facing 'Crisis,' Public Defenders May Refuse Cases ? Constitutional Dilemma: 'Severe' Budget Cuts Could Force Public Defenders to Turn Away Thousands of Poor Defendants." Here is how the piece starts: Faced with...

Should defendants facing long sentences for downloading child porn be filing Kozinski claims?

Posted on June 13, 2008
There are so many interesting questions and perspectives one can have regarding "Porngate" involving Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. (I wonder if I am the first to call this controversy "Porngate" (first discussed here); perhaps someone who reads all...

Another high in depriving liberty: 7.2 million under CJ control

Posted on June 13, 2008
As detailed in this Washington Post piece, the "number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million in 2006, the highest ever." Here are more specifics and reactions: According to a recently released report....

Capital punishment, a love story?!?

Posted on June 13, 2008
A remarkable love story is emerging just before a scheduled execution, as reported here in the Austin American-Statesman: The capital murder conviction of Charles Dean Hood, who is set to be executed Tuesday, should be overturned because the judge at...

Texas back in the execution business

Posted on June 12, 2008
This AP story presents the basic details of Texas' (long-awaited?) return to the business of state killing or killers: A remorseful convicted killer was executed Wednesday night for raping and killing a Dallas woman 17 years ago, the first prisoner...

What should we make of Judge Kozinski's porn postings?

Posted on June 12, 2008
Here's the start of a fascinating porn and judging story broken by the Los Angeles Times today: A closely watched obscenity trial in Los Angeles federal court was suspended Wednesday after the judge acknowledged maintaining his own publicly accessible website...

Notable new piece on plea bargaining and white-collar prosecutions

Posted on June 12, 2008
A helpful reader pointed me to this interesting looking new piece on SSRN titled "Plea Bargaining's Survival: Financial Crimes Plea Bargaining, a Continued Triumph in a Post-Enron World." Here is the abstract: This article examines the war on financial crimes...

Irizarry is interesting, but is it important or just iterant?

Posted on June 12, 2008
The three short opinions in Irizarry are all quite interesting (basics here), though I am not sure upon first read whether the ruling is very important or just a review of matters established by modern Booker progeny like Gall and...

A split decision (and a victory, of sorts) in SCOTUS Irizarry decision

Posted on June 12, 2008
Though the rest of the legal world will be focused on the dentainee decisions from the Supreme Court today, I have different case and a much shorter opinion to obsess about (while watching golf). As detailed by the SCOTUSblog live...

SCOTUS rules 5-4 for detainee habeas rights

Posted on June 12, 2008
As detailed in this early post at SCOTUSblog, this morning brings a notable detainee ruling that will bring back talk of a Kennedy court: In a stunning blow to the Bush Administration in its war-on-terrorism policies, the Supreme Court ruled...

A notable change in one Texan's life and death advocacy

Posted on June 12, 2008
A helpful reader passed along this very interesting Chicago Times piece, headlined "Voice of death testifies for life Ex-spokesman on execution aids defense." Her is how the piece begins: For eight years and 219 executions, Larry Fitzgerald was the face...

Michigan editorial follows the money to assail prison priorities

Posted on June 12, 2008
With lean economic times, I expect we may start to see a number of editorials similar to this new commentary from a local Michigan paper. Here are extended excerpts from an effective editorial: Michigan no longer can afford its hard-as-nails...

Creating a catch-22 for effective reform of lethal injection protocols

Posted on June 11, 2008
As detailed in this press release, a "team of medical, ethical, and legal scholars argues in PLoS Medicine that in some US states the modification of lethal injection protocols is tantamount to experimentation upon prisoners without the prisoners' consent and...

When you got to go (to sentencing), you got to go

Posted on June 11, 2008
This local story, headlined "25 miles from court and in want of a ride, man puts sole into attempt to see judge," highlights one person very motivated to get to court for sentencing: Early Tuesday morning, Stephen A. Shoemaker discovered,...

Notable NBA fix tales being told by ref facing sentencing

Posted on June 11, 2008
As detailed in this New York Times article, the documents being generated before the sentencing of former ref Tim Donaghy are generating quite a buzz among folks other than just sentencing fans: N.B.A. executives and referees are accused of broad...

Extended Second Circuit discussion of "intended loss"

Posted on June 10, 2008
The Second Circuit today in US v. Confredo, No. 06-3201 (2d Cir. June 10, 2008) (available here), has an extended discussion of Apprendi and loss calculations and other intricacies of modern federal sentencing for white-collar offenders. Here is the starting...

James Q. Wilson guest-blogging on Volokh about incareceration

Posted on June 10, 2008
I am very pleased to see noted criminologist James Q. Wilson guest-blogging over at The Volokh Conspiracy, and so far he is talking mostly about incarceration. Here are his first few posts: What do we get from prison? Deterring crime...

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