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Sentencing Law and Policy 
News, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
Post Frequency: 77.7/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 10:54:24 Recent Entries: 4815
By Douglas A. Berman
Go to Sentencing Law and Policy, find other Criminal Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Off to the Big Apple
Posted on January 11, 2010As the Supreme Court gets back in action today, so too do most law school semesters. And this Spring, I am a visiting professor at Fordham Law School in NYC. I hope to find time to blog about a few...
SCOTUS summary reversal of Ninth Circuit sufficiency ruling
Posted on January 11, 2010The Supreme Court this morning kicked off its new year with a rather lengthy per curiam summary reversal in McDaniel v. Brown, No. 08-559 (Jan. 11, 2010) (available here). The ruling starts this way: In Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U....
"Goodbye to Willie Horton"
Posted on January 11, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this effective new op-ed from Margaret Colgate Love appearing in today's National Law Journal. The piece's subheading provides a sense of its themes: "Mike Huckabee effectively defended his Maurice Clemmons commutation...
Medicial marijuana on the verge of becoming (barely) legal in New Jersey
Posted on January 11, 2010This local story, which is headlined "N.J. Assembly approves bill legalizing medical marijuana," report that New Jersey is soon to become the first state in its region to authorize marijuana use for medical reasons. Looks like I picked a good...
Eleventh Circuit rejects Second Amendment challenge to federal conviction for misdemeanant firearm possession
Posted on January 11, 2010The Eleventh Circuit today in US v. White, No. 08-16010 (11th Cir. Jan. 11, 2010) (available here), rejects a defendant's claim that Heller creates constitutional problems for the federal crime of gun possession by a domestic violence misdemeanant. Here is...
Third Circuit rejects internet ban as condition of supervised release for "lifelong sexual predator"
Posted on January 11, 2010The Third Circuit has today issued an interesting opinion concerning supervised release conditions for a repeat sex offender. The ruling in US v. Heckman, No. 08-3844 (3d Cir. Jan. 11, 2010) (available here), gets started this way: Arthur William Heckman...
SCOTUS starts 2010 with lots of sentencing stories pending
Posted on January 10, 2010The Supreme Court is back to in action Monday, and Tony Mauro has a preview of some of the biggest 2010 story lines in this piece headlined "High Court Returns to a Busy Schedule: As the new year begins, blockbuster...
Some local (and international) coverage of sexting issues
Posted on January 10, 2010This morning I noticed via the news feed a number of notable stories on "sexting" and the ways in which criminal laws try to deal with this issues: From Kentucky here: "Bill targets youth who send 'sexts': Richards? proposal would...
Effective discussion of new (version of old) thinking about deterrence
Posted on January 10, 2010This morning's New York Times magazine has this effective piece by Jeff Rosen titled "Prisoners of Parole." The full piece is a must read, and here is a snippet from the start and end of the piece: Classical deterrence theory...
Will any new electronic device be especially blog-friendly?
Posted on January 09, 2010I am going to go off-topic just a bit to seek reader reflection on whether any of the new and in-development mobile electronic devices seem especially blog-friendly for blog authors and blog readers. I love both my (first-generation) Amazon Kindle...
"As crime keeps dropping, it?s no time for backsliding"
Posted on January 09, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this notable editorial from yesterday's USA Today. Here are excerpts: At the beginning of the 1990s violent crime was soaring, and some experts predicted that it would go even higher as...
Did federal sentencing of CEO of BetonSports have an over/under?
Posted on January 09, 2010This new Wired story, which is headlined "Online Gambling Boss Gets 33-Month Sentence," accounts for the cheeky title of this post. Here are the details of a sentencing against the backdrop of an interesting public policy debate: The chief executive....
A new thoughtful child porn downloading opinion assailing images guideline enhancement
Posted on January 08, 2010I just came across a recent district court opinion discussing the federal guidelines for child porn that has an especially astute discussion of one significant aspect of the enhancements regularly applied in these sorts of cases. The opinion is authored...
Three executions completed on January 7, 2010
Posted on January 08, 2010I am not sure if this fact marks a record for the modern administration of the death penalty in the US, but I am sure that it is noteworthy that three different states succeeded in carrying out executions yesterday. Here...
"Fifty State Survey of Adult Sex Offender Registration Laws"
Posted on January 08, 2010The title of this post is the title of this helpful document available here via SSRN. Here is the abstract: This publication is part of a larger scholarly project and one in a series that aims to create a ?legal...
SCOTUS grants cert on a (purely technical?) criminal restitution issue
Posted on January 08, 2010As detailed at this new SCOTUSblog post, the Supreme Court this afternoon "has granted cert. in a single case, Dolan v. United States (09-367)" Docket: 09-367 Title: Dolan v. United States Issue: Whether a district court decision to enter a...
First Circuit upholds sex offender civil commitment part of Adam Walsh Act
Posted on January 08, 2010This coming Monday morning, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in United States v. Comstock (08-1224), in which the US sought cert to answer this question: Whether Congress had the constitutional authority to enact 18 U.S.C. 4248,....
New Jersey on verge of repealing state's school-zone drug laws
Posted on January 08, 2010Legislative action on criminal sentences often appears to be largely a one-way ratchet, with new laws often pushing punishments up and rarely bringing them down. However, as detailed in this local report, New Jersey is about the buck the trend...
Ohio succeeds again with one-drug execution protocol
Posted on January 07, 2010The Columbus Dispatch provides this report on another execution in Ohio using the state's new one-drug lethal injection protocol. Here is how it starts: A Toledo man convicted of fatally shooting a convenience-store owner in 1993 this morning became the...
Two notable (and notably different) Second Circuit reversals on sex offender issues
Posted on January 07, 2010The Second Circuit has two notable rulings in sex offender cases today. Here are the basics, with summaries drawn from the rulings: US v. Guzman, No. 08-5561 (2d Cir. Jan. 7, 2010) (available here): Appeals from orders of the United...
"Study says Texas death penalty a homicide deterrent"
Posted on January 07, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this new AP article. Here is how it starts: As many as 60 people may be alive today in Texas because two dozen convicted killers were executed last year in the...
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about linking education and prison funding
Posted on January 07, 2010As detailed in this local report, which is headlined "Educators intrigued by proposal to link college, prison spending," a key part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state-of-the-state address focused on the relationship between state funding of education and prisons...
Plaxico Burress denied opportunity to participate in NY work release program
Posted on January 07, 2010This news report from NYC, which is headlined "Plaxico Burress Denied Work Release," details that Plaxico Burress continues to get tough treatment from the New York legal system. Here are the basic details: Plaxico Burress is not getting out of...
"Can Congress Overturn Kennedy v. Louisiana?"
Posted on January 06, 2010The question in the title of this post is part of the title of this interesting new piece on SSRN by Richard Re. The full title is "Can Congress Overturn Kennedy v. Louisiana? The Contingency of Recent Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence,"...
Cranky convicted corporate cooperator complaining about prosecutors
Posted on January 06, 2010This Bloomberg report, which is headlined "Ex-UBS Banker, Informant Birkenfeld Seeks Probe of Prosecutors," provides the latest news on a white-collar case that has the feds and their corporate cooperator in a fight. Here are the details: Bradley Birkenfeld, a...
"Juvenile Injustice"
Posted on January 06, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this editorial in today's New York Times. Here are excerpts: Gladys Carrión, New York?s reform-minded commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, has been calling on the state to...
Off to war, rather than prison, for military marriage scammer
Posted on January 06, 2010A helpful reader sent me this notable local sentencing story, which is headlined "After marriage fraud, soldier will serve in Afghanistan, not in prison." Here are the basics: A former Fort Bragg soldier who married a Russian woman in order...
Roman Polanski asking to be sentenced in absentia
Posted on January 06, 2010As detailed in this new Reuters report, the Roman Polanski case has taken another interesting turn: Fugitive film director Roman Polanski asked a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday to sentence him in his absence on a 1977 charge of having...
Effective NPR discussion of plea bargaining realities
Posted on January 06, 2010This afternoon's NPR program "Talk of the Nation" included this lengthy segment on plea bargaining under the title "Plea Bargains: Necessary Tool, Or Cop-Out?". Here is set up: Most criminal convictions are the result of plea bargaining, a process of...
Will any Second Amendment fans come to the defense of Gilbert Arenas?
Posted on January 06, 2010Though I doubt the NRA is likely eager to make Gilbert Arenas its celebrity spokesman, the latest news concerning the treatment of the NBA star has me wondering if and when fans of guns rights and the Second Amendment might...
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you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
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I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
I was fired on June 3, 2002 in Massachusetts because I reported discriminatory behavior by the employer towards a particular nationality. In July I filed a discrimination/retaliation complaint against the employer with t
It seem sin your case that the fact you filed the complaint prior to being dissa...
Does failure to provide health insurance benefits at the time promised constitute harm to the employee?
Yes. Failure to provide health insurance benefits is a violation of Labor Law ob...
My job requires me to drive bank deposits up to two times a day using my own vehicle and gas. Although not too far, can should I be receiving compensation? One deposit run is required daily by company policy, but the man
you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
Can i sue my employer for breach of Contract?
i would suggest you get professional advice
from what you have put here yo...
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