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"Federal Sentencing at a Crossroads: A Call for Leadership"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of the terrific panel discussion put together last week by NYU's Center on the Administration of Criminal Law and the Federal Bar Council. The discussion was moderated by The Honorable John Gleeson, United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and included as panelists: Professor Rachel E. Barkow Representative John Conyers, Jr. Anthony Ricco, Esq. Chief Judge and USSC Chair William K. Sessions Alan Vinegrad, Esq. Jonathan Wroblewski, DOJ's ex-officio member on the USSC The NYU Center has made the video of the event available via this link, and it describes the proceedings this way: This program brought together leaders in sentencing policy to discuss various questions, including: Who is -- and who should be -- in charge of federal sentencing policy? What changes are desirable, and how can change best be accomplished? Why is change in favor of defendants so elusive, even in narrow contexts where prosecutors agree it is necessary? Should sentencing policy at the federal level be linked to its fiscal consequences, as it is in the states? The program explored these and other questions in part through the window provided by recent developments related to nonviolent drug offenders, including pending legislation to reduce the disparity between federal sentences for crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).