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Effective new commentary on the ?categorical approach" to assessing past criminal history

By Douglas A. Berman

Anyone involved in federal sentencing debates over any offender with any serious criminal history knows (probably too well) the ugly jurisprudence that has developed int he circuit courts over how prior crimes are to be labelled. Helpfully, Doug Keller has this new piece on SSRN to help folks sort out and assess this jurisprudence.  His piece is titled "Causing Mischief for Taylor's Categorical Approach: Applying 'Legal Imagination' to Duenas-Alvarez," and here is the abstract: This Article examines a recent trend in some circuits to hobble the ?categorical approach.?  That doctrine finds roots in Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990), where the Supreme Court selected it to deal with the vexing question of how to determine what someone was previously ?convicted of? for purposes of immigration and criminal law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 10, 2010 (boomark / email).