Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

Judge Bright makes pitch for sentencing councils to deal with post-Booker disparities

By Douglas A. Berman

A number of helpful readers have alerted me to the intriguing little concurrence penned by Judge Bright in US v. Ayala, No. 09-2123 (8th Cir. July 8, 2010) (available here).  Here are snippets from an interesting read: Sentencing discretion should not become the justification for federal courts? acceptance of disparity between similarly situated defendants. Disparity erodes public confidence in the fair administration of our criminal justice system.... If we can agree with Justice Jackson that disparity based on the identity of the sentencing judge has pernicious effects, how, in this age of discretion, can the federal judiciary address sentencing disparity? I suggest that federal sentencing judges, particularly those in multi-judge districts, examine and institute sentencing councils similar to those that existed before the guidelines...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 08, 2010 (boomark / email).