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Should dying child justify a federal sentencing break?

By Douglas A. Berman

A helpful reader sent me this remarkable local story that has to make every sentencing theorist (not to mention ever federal prison official) think hard about modern notions of justice and mercy:The story of a 10-year-old Lincoln girl who is dying of brain cancer's one dying wish spurred a lot of e-mail to KETV NewsWatch 7. Jayci Yaeger wants her father to be at her bedside, but that isn't likely to happen since Jason Yaeger is in a federal prison in Yankton, S.D. Vonda Yaeger is pleading with the warden for compassion to grant her daughter's wish. "She wants her dad. She goes to her room crying because she wants her dad," Yaeger said. Jason Yaeger was convicted of methamphetamine charges nearly five years ago and is scheduled to be released next year...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 20, 2008 (boomark / email).