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Another notable child porn sentencing decision

By Douglas A. Berman

I've previously noted the diversity of approaches and outcomes in federal child porn sentencings, in part because the the guidelines recommend sentences around the top of applicable statutory ranges.  A helpful reader sent along a notable new decision addressing these realities handed down last week by Judge Pratt (or Gall fame).  The opinion in US v. Johnson, No. 4:07-cr-00127 (N.D. Iowa Dec. 3, 2008) (available for download below), merits a full read.  Here is one of many notable passages: Congress has created a fifteen-year window, between the statutory minimum (5 years) and maximum (20 years) sentences, within which this Court can penalize a convicted child pornographer. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2), (b)(1). However, on account of Congress? tinkering with the guidelines, the Commission now recommends that nearly all defendants be incarcerated near the twenty-year statutory maximum...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on December 09, 2008 (boomark / email).