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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.
Manson family member still seeking parole 40 years later
Posted on June 06, 2009This new report from CNN provides the latest interesting sentencing news concerning a defendant involved in one of the most famous crime sprees in history: The woman who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death will be considered for parole...
"U.S. May Permit 9/11 Guilty Pleas in Capital Cases"
Posted on June 06, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this article in today's New York Times. Here are a few highlights from an article that highlights the fascinating interplay of capital punishment and plea practicies: The Obama administration is considering...
The challenging economics of death causing problems in Chicago
Posted on June 05, 2009This local public radio segment from Chicago, headlined "State's Attorney Will Continue Seeking Death Penalty," provides a windy city perspective of the challenges of death penalty administration during tight economic times. Here is the lead in to the segment: Prosecutors...
Noting differences in sentences for intra- and extra-family sex abuse
Posted on June 05, 2009This local article from Minnesota, headlined "Justice is unequal in sex abuse: Those who molest family members get lighter sentences than outsiders, data show," documents a sentencing story that I suspect is not uncommon in most jurisdictions. Here areis how...
Will Judge Sotomayor make SCOTUS less friendly to criminal defendants?
Posted on June 05, 2009The question of this post is prompted by the this new article from the Wall Street Journal, which is headlined "Nominee's Criminal Rulings Tilt to Right of Souter." Here are excerpts: While Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands in the liberal mainstream...
Governor Rell officially vetoes effort to repeal Connecticut's death penalty
Posted on June 05, 2009Living up to her promise, Connecticut's Gov. Jodi Rell vetoed legislation that would have abolished the death penalty. This AP story provides the basics, and her statement on the veto is available at this link. Here are a few excerpts...
"Judge jails woman until baby is born"
Posted on June 04, 2009A helpful reader pointed me to this fascinating article that bears the headline that is the title of this post. Here are the particulars: A woman from the African nation of Cameroon could give birth in a federal prison because...
NRA quickly petitions SCOTUS for Second Amendment incorporation
Posted on June 04, 2009As detailed in this post at SCOTUSblog, only one day "after losing a major test case in an appeals court on the scope of the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association ? the nation?s leading advocate of personal gun rights...
"Fairness and the Willingness to Accept Plea Bargain Offers"
Posted on June 04, 2009The title of this post is the title of this new article that is soon to be published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Here is the abstract: In contrast with the common assumption in the plea bargaining literature,...
Examining Judge Sotomayor's years as a New York state prosecutor
Posted on June 04, 2009This morning's Washington Post has this interesting article on Judge Sotomayor's early work as a lawyer headlined "Gritty First Job Shaped Nominee; Years as N.Y. Prosecutor Gave Sotomayor Firsthand Look at Crime and Punishment." Here are snippets: The five years...
If you enjoy conversing about criminal law...
Posted on June 04, 2009be sure to get yourself a copy of this new publication from Oxford University Press, Criminal Law Conversations. This book, to which I contributed a chapter and some additional commentary, was put together skillfully by Professors Paul Robinson, Stephen Garvey,...
Interesting materials from the hearing surrounding impeachment of Judge Kent
Posted on June 04, 2009Anyone following the sad saga of the crimes and punishment of former federal Judge Sam Kent will want to check out some of the materials linked at this House Judiciary website relating to yesterday's "Hearing to Consider Impeachment of Samuel...
A "bleg" for information about crazy-long prison sentences for white-collar criminals
Posted on June 03, 2009A Forbes reporter contacted me in her effort to "compile a list of longest federal sentences for white-collar criminals, specifically financial criminals." I told her that I was not aware of any such list, but that I was willing to...
California appellate court upholds 27-year three-strikes sentence for DUI offense
Posted on June 03, 2009A helpful reader, perhaps aware of my concern that many drunk drivers do not get harsh enough sentences, forward to me this local article from California reporting on the affirmance of a very harsh DUI sentence. Here are some of...
Fifth Circuit rebukes effort to give a lot more bite to reasonableness review
Posted on June 03, 2009The Fifth Circuit has just released an important little opinion in in US v. Duarte, No. 08-50902 (5th Cir. June 1, 2009) (available here). The ruling covers a lot of important ground in only a few pages, and here are...
"Restorative Justice and Child Sex Offences: The Theory and the Practice"
Posted on June 03, 2009The title of this posts is the title of this recent article from the British Journal of Criminology, which is now available here via SSRN. Here is the abstract: Restorative justice advocates have made a number of claims about the...
Guest post: "The Uses of Revenge, Redux"
Posted on June 03, 2009A colleague, W. David Ball, wrote me an interesting e-mail that I asked him to tweak into a guest post. Here is what he sent my way: --- The Uses of Revenge, Redux Last week, the ALI voted to withdraw...
Two notable new death penalty papers
Posted on June 03, 2009These two new papers from SSRN concerning the death penalty look worthy of some attention: Science and the Death Penalty: DNA, Innocence, and the Debate over Capital Punishment in the United States by Jay Aronson & Simon A. Cole Abstract:...
"Probation for Michigan official in sidewalk sex"
Posted on June 03, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this local story. Here are the particulars: A married Oakland County official who police say was caught having sex with another woman on a sidewalk in the Detroit suburb of Novi...
Seventh Circuit resists extending Second Amendment to the states
Posted on June 02, 2009The Seventh Circuit (per Judge Easterbrook) today rules that, in light of existing Supreme Court precedent, the Second Amendment is not applicable to state laws in NRA v. City of Chicago, No. 08-4241 (7th Cir. June 2, 2009) (available here)....
Eighth Circuit reverses broad supervised release conditions
Posted on June 02, 2009The Eighth Circuit today issued an interesting new opinion concerning broad supervised release conditions in US v. Bender, No. 08-2899 (8th Cir. June 2, 2009) (available here082899P.pdf). Here is the unofficial summary of the ruling from the court's website: Ban...
NJ legislators fear going "soft" on drug offenders after going "soft" on aggravated murderers
Posted on June 02, 2009New Jersey has made news for sentencing reform in recent years by being the first state in the modern death penalty era to legislatively abolish capital punishment for aggravated murder. But, as highlighted by this local piece, headlined "NJ maintains...
Why exactly has former Gov. Spitzer avoided criminal prosecution for his many crimes?
Posted on June 02, 2009As detailed in local coverage here and here, the last sentencing for those prosecuted for running Emperor?s Club VIP, the high-priced call-girl ring frequented by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, took place yesterday in federal court. And, as detailed...
Two great commentaries from the legal blogosphere
Posted on June 02, 2009Because there is too much great legal commentary in the blogosphere these days to keep up with it all, I have to highlight two recent posts that should not escape the eyes of sentencing fans. First, this post at Judging...
A (significant?) uptick in below-guideline sentences in latest data run from USSC
Posted on June 02, 2009The US Sentencing Commission has some notable new sentencing data now up on its website. The USSC's latest data report, which can be accessed here, is described this way: Second Quarter FY09 Quarterly Sentencing Update: An extensive set of tables...
Do letters from the public ? often or ever ? influence sentencing judges?
Posted on June 01, 2009This local story from Florida, headlined "Fans, foes of Mary McCarty flood sentencing judge with suggestions for her fate," prompts the question in the title of this post. The local story includes quotes from letters to a federal sentencing judge...
How exactly do transitions impact the SCOTUS docket and cert grant decisions?
Posted on June 01, 2009As regular readers know based on various posts on docket dynamics and a recent article, I believe that how the Supreme Court sets its docket and decides what to decide is often more important than just what it actually decides....
Want to support legalizing pot, there's an app for that...
Posted on June 01, 2009Thanks to this post at TalkLeft, I saw this local story reporting on the creation of an "iPhone application focusing on the legalization of marijuana." Here is more: CHRONIC-les was released for sale May 21 and has had more than...
Ninth Circuit finds another within-guideline sentence substantively unreasonable!!
Posted on June 01, 2009I am excited to report that, only about 4.5 years after the Booker ruling, the Ninth Circuit has managed to find a second within-guideline sentence to be substantively unreasonable. Regular readers may recall the Ninth Circuit was the first to...
Notable ruling on procedural reasonableness from Second Circuit
Posted on June 01, 2009The Second Circuit today has a notable ruling in US v. Timewell, No. 07-4587 (2d Cir. June 1, 2009) (available here), that discusses post-Booker review for procedural unreasonableness at some length. Here is hope the opinion starts: Defendant-appellant Gregory Timewell...
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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
from what you have put here yo...
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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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