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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.
New Jersey Supreme Court hearing challenge to local sex offfender residency restrictions
Posted on March 24, 2009The Newark Star-Ledger has this report, headlined "Justices hear case on sex offenders; Housing restriction brings challenges," detailing a notable sex offender case coming before a notable state high court. Here is how it starts: More than 100 towns in...
"To Cut Costs, States Relax Prison Policies"
Posted on March 24, 2009The title of this post is the title of this new piece from the New York Times. Here are excerpts: For nearly three decades, most states have dealt with lawbreakers in two ways: lock more of them up for longer...
A strong pitch to SCOTUS to have Booker apply to crack sentence reductions
Posted on March 23, 2009Late last week, a prominent group of SCOTUS gurus filed a cert petition in US v. Dunphy making a full-throated argument for judges to have broad resentencing authority when ruling on motions to reduce previously imposed crack sentences. The cert...
"Disparities Seen in Federal Securities Fraud Sentences"
Posted on March 23, 2009The title of this post is the title of this piece from last Friday's New York Law Journal by Steven Feldman discussing federal sentencing developments in a notable white-collar setting. Here are snippets: Greater uncertainty reigns now that the guidelines...
Medical marijuana fans now feeling they can exhale and inhale
Posted on March 22, 2009This AP story, headlined "Pot advocates exhale after AG signals policy shift," provides details on reactions to the latest change in federal prosecutorial policies. Here is how the story starts: Medical marijuana users and dispensary owners in California have held...
Seeking Sunday federal sentencing speculations
Posted on March 22, 2009Amazingly, the five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's blockbuster Blakely ruling is only a few months away. And, even more amazingly, since the Supreme Court decided how it would apply Blakely to the federal system in Booker, the basic law...
Headlines showing how a down economy is a downer for prisoners, too
Posted on March 22, 2009These two headlines caught my eye this morning as evidence of how persons in prison also have reasons to be concerned about the US economy's problems: From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here, "Economy concerns inmates, too" From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune...
"Crime and Punishment in Japan: From Re-integrative Shaming to Popular Punitivism"
Posted on March 21, 2009Thie title of this post is the title of this interesting piece from The Asian-Pacific Journal, which describes notable developments in criminal justice trends in Japan. Here is how the piece begins and ends: Since the Second World War, Japan...
"Rethinking Drug Courts: Restorative Justice as a Response to Racial Injustice"
Posted on March 21, 2009The title of this post os the title of a new forthcoming article in the Stanford Law & Policy Review from Michael O'Hear. The piece is up at SSRN at this link, and here is the abstract: Specialized drug treatment...
The latest news on Maryland's continuing debate over death penalty reform
Posted on March 21, 2009The Baltimore Sun reports here on the latest development from Maryland on legislative reform of death penalty administration. Here are the particulars: A House of Delegates committee approved the Senate's plan yesterday to restrict capital punishment to cases with specific...
Notable Fourth Circuit (unpublished) vacating of downward variance
Posted on March 20, 2009Thanks to this post at Fraud with Peril, I see that the Fourth Circuit has today vacated, via an unpublished per curiam opinion, a downward variance in US v. Gaskill, No. 04-4476 (4th Cir. March 20, 2009) (available here). Here...
Another drunk driving sentencing story we can follow on the sports pages
Posted on March 20, 2009I suppose I should be glad that during March Madness I can keep up with sentencing news in the sports pages. But, I am not glad to learn from this SI.com article, that a recent driving fatality caused by a...
Notable new and helpful thoughts on the capital concept of closure
Posted on March 20, 2009I just noticed this interesting-looking new piece on SSRN by Jody Lynee Madeira, titled "Why Rebottle the Genie?': Capitalizing on Closure in Death Penalty Proceedings." Here is the abstract: Closure, though a term with great rhetorical force in the capital...
Still waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting ... on the clemency front
Posted on March 20, 2009President Obama is about to begin his third month in office still without having made any use (or any mention) of his clemency powers. As I spotlighted in a post here a few weeks ago, P.S. Ruckman in this post...
Local sheriff talking about trying referendum to undo New Mexico's death penalty repeal
Posted on March 20, 2009Revealing that the death penalty is never easily killed, this AP story reports on comments from a sheriff in New Mexico about his desire to seek a means for reversing the repeal of the death penalty in New Mexico: Bernalillo...
Defendant seeking to turn sentence into Roman holiday
Posted on March 19, 2009Though I do not expect Gregory Peck or Audrey Hepburn to turn up in this version tale, this local story details an interesting international sentencing dimension in a case from Connecticut: Lawyers for Benedetto Cipriani, the Italian citizen convicted of...
An interesting historical look at jury trial rights and the rise of pleas
Posted on March 19, 2009I just noticed on SSRN this interesting piece providing a great historical perspective on jury trials and plea agreements. The article by Elizabeth Dale is titled "People v. Coughlin and Criticisms of the Criminal Jury in Late Nineteenth-Century Chicago," and...
"Texas judge: Eye-plucking inmate 'crazy' but sane"
Posted on March 19, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this AP report on an eye-popping case previously discussed here (sorry, couldn't resist the easy joke). Here are the particulars: A condemned Texas inmate who removed his only eye and ate...
Can and will New Mexico go forward with executions even after its death penalty repeal?
Posted on March 19, 2009I am pretty sure that New Jersey's legislative repeal of its death penalty included a provision for commuting the sentences for those Garden State defendants already sent to death row. But, according to this local article, folks in New Mexico...
Feds seeking only sentence of probation for Miguel Tejada based on lying conviction
Posted on March 19, 2009As detailed in pieces from the AP and from SI.com, federal prosecutors are not asking for an jail time in the upcoming sentencing of Miguel Tejada. Here are some details from the SI report: The United States Attorney's office has...
Dean Elana Kagan is now officially SG Kagan
Posted on March 19, 2009The BLT has this report, titled "Kagan Confirmed as First Female Solicitor General." As I have suggested in prior posts,new SG Elana Kagan can and will have some say (and perhaps a significant role) in the shape and direction of...
Effective coverage of death penalty reforms and realities
Posted on March 19, 2009Over at Stateline.org, John Gramlich has this effective review of recent capital punishment developments. The piece is headlined, "Death penalty rift in states continues," and here are some excerpts: Gov. Bill Richardson?s decision Wednesday (March 18) to repeal New Mexico?s...
Are any and all LWOP sentences inconsistent with international human rights law?
Posted on March 19, 2009Over at The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh in this post notes this New Zealand Herald article and wonders and worries about the prospect of international human rights law being used to bar sentencing murderers to life without the possibility parole...
Abolitionists seem more motivated in New Mexico death penalty debate
Posted on March 18, 2009I have always suspected that, while a majority of the public favors the death penalty, those who are opposed to the death penalty tend to be more passionate and motivated. This view would seem to be supported by this official...
"To save money on prisons, states take a softer stance"
Posted on March 18, 2009The title of this post is the headline of this new article from USA Today. Here are excerpts: [A]cross the nation, the deepening financial crisis is forcing dramatic changes in the hard-line, punishment-based philosophy that has dominated the USA's criminal...
An effort to use charging disparity to fend off death penalty in North Carolina
Posted on March 18, 2009This story from North Carolina reports on a notable effort by capital defense attorneys to attack the way in which local prosecutors use their charging discretion in capital cases. Here are excerpts from the article: A couple of defense lawyers...
The latest data on the ever-growing federal criminal caseload
Posted on March 18, 2009The Administrative Office of the United States Courts has recently issued this news release, titled "Workload of the Federal Courts Grows in Fiscal Year 2008." Here are some details that should interest federal sentencing fans: For FY 2008, the twelve-month...
Are a lot more new federal judgeships in the works?
Posted on March 18, 2009Tony Mauro at The BLT has this important post, headlined "Judicial Conference Adopts New Ethics Code, Seeks New Judgeships." The specifics suggest that a number of new federal judgeships may soon be created: The Judicial Conference ... agreed to ask....
The death penalty officially killed off in New Mexico
Posted on March 18, 2009This local story reports that this evening Governor Bill Richardson signed a bill to abolish the death penalty in New Mexico. Here are a few details from the story: Tonight, Gov. Bill Richardson signed his name to a law that...
New scholarship on sex offender residency restrictions
Posted on March 17, 2009I just noticed on SSRN this new article by Professor Asmara Tekle-Johnson, titled "In the Zone: Sex Offenders and the Ten-Percent Solutions." Here is the abstract: At first glance, sex-offender residency restrictions appear plausible because they ostensibly place a convicted...
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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...
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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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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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