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"Explaining Sentences"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this terrific new paper by Michael O'Hear available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: Despite the Supreme Court's 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, which enhanced the power of district court judges to sentence defendants below the range prescribed by the federal sentencing guidelines, the great majority of federal sentences continue to follow the guidelines' recommendations.  As defendants have challenged these practices, one commonly litigated issue has been the question of whether district court judges are obligated to explain themselves when they reject a defendant's argument for a below-guidelines sentence.  In the immediate aftermath of Booker, a handful of federal circuits adopted such an explanation requirement...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 23, 2008 (boomark / email).