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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.
Will there be any federal sentencing or mass incarceration talk at the Holder hearings?
Posted on January 15, 2009I will be on the road and off-line for much of today, but the President-elect and the Senate were kind enough to ensure sentencing fans will have something else to follow while this blog is quiet. Specifically, the Senate confirmation...
Death penalty news and notes
Posted on January 15, 2009Here are a few death penalty headlines and stories from a variety of states that caught my eye this morning: From Maryland here, "Faith leaders urge state to repeal death penalty" From North Carolina here, "Mentally Ill Would Avoid Death...
A Philippino priest, an angry jury and a state judge meet at a white-collar sentencing
Posted on January 14, 2009Though the title of this post might make a good opening line to some kind of bizarre joke, it actually provides the backstory for this interesting local story about a state judge imposing a sentence way below what a state...
More news about likely key players in Obama Administration's Justice Department
Posted on January 14, 2009The Blog of Legal Times has this new post titled "More Names Emerge for Key DOJ Slots." Here are snippets that should be of particular interest to those interested in key players for the federal criminal justice system: We're getting...
Eighth Circuit reverses (again) reduced sentence in extreme sex offense case
Posted on January 14, 2009The Eighth Circuit has yet another notable sentencing ruling today in a notable federal sex offense that has come before the circuit repeatedly. The first few paragraphs and some of the concluding sentences of this new panel opinion provides the...
Why did Justice Stevens, the author of Apprendi, vote to Ice Sixth Amendment jury rights?
Posted on January 14, 2009There are lots of interesting and surprising aspects to the Supreme Court's Ice ruling today, ranging from the absence of opinions from Justices Breyer and Alito (the two Justices with the most criminal justice history) to the willingness of Chief...
California board saying sex offender residency restrictions not working
Posted on January 14, 2009The Los Angeles Times has this article, headlined "There's no evidence Jessica's Law works, California officials say," reporting on the apparent inefficacy of residency restrictions for sex offenders in California. Here is how the article starts: A state panel is...
Some choice quotes from the two opinions in Oregon v. Ice
Posted on January 14, 2009For reasons I will explain in future posts, the Supreme Court's work today in the Apprendi-Blakely Sixth Amendment case of Oregon v. Ice (basics here) is fascinating, surprising and ultimately disappointing. Before I get to hard-core commentary, however, it is...
Fascinating SCOTUS split in rejecting Blakely's application to consecutive sentencing
Posted on January 14, 2009The Supreme Court has today handed down its latest Blakely ruling with its decision in Oregon v. Ice. Here is the early report from SCOTUSblog:The Court has released the opinion in Oregon v. Ice (07-901), on whether judges may impose...
Madoff mania continues as government presses bail issue
Posted on January 14, 2009This new Reuters piece provides the latest news in the still on-going saga of Bernard Madoff's bail situation. Here are the basics: Accused swindler Bernard Madoff will be back in court on Wednesday as U.S. prosecutors again try to persuade...
New FAMMGram includes slate of federal sentencing recommendations
Posted on January 14, 2009Families Against Mandatory Minimums has its latest newsletter, its Winter 2009 FAMMGram, available on-line at this link. The FAMM newsletter is full of lots of interesting items, including this slate of federal sentencing recommendations (which are explained in full in...
How much will guns and drugs come up during the Holder hearings?
Posted on January 13, 2009Confirmation hearings for Attorney-General nominee Eric Holder are scheduled to start this Thursday, and there is reason to believe these hearings will be worth watching. This new Politico piece, headined "GOP setting up roadblocks for Holder," indicates that topics other...
Notable news from the US Sentencing Commission
Posted on January 13, 2009Providing a useful follow-up to all my speculation about what's going on at the US Sentencing Commission, the USSC's webpage now has these two (exciting?) new press releases: United States Sentencing Commission to Conduct Regional Public Hearings on Federal Sentencing...
Making the economic case for "letting go" of the death penalty
Posted on January 13, 2009This new commentary by Richard Dieter, who is the Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, develops an economic case for doing without the death penalty. The piece is titled "Letting Go of the Death Penalty," and here are...
Lots of notable sentencing action from the Eighth Circuit
Posted on January 13, 2009By my quick count, the Eighth Circuit has already handed down nearly a dozen sentencing opinions this week. And two of the rulings today are especially noteworthy because they deal with the constitutionality of prosecutions under the federal Sex Offender...
Two opinions and two wins for criminal defendants from the Supreme Court
Posted on January 13, 2009Continuing its trend of being the most pro-defendant appellate court in the nation on sentencing issues, the Supreme Court issued two opinions this morning and both involve wins for defendants. Here are the basic details from Lyle Denniston in this...
"Sex offender wins $500,000 Alaska lottery"
Posted on January 13, 2009The title of this post is the title of this new CNN piece. Here are the basic details: An Alaska lottery held to raise money for a group that helps sexual abuse victims had a surprise winner: a convicted sex...
Statutory interpretation at center of debate in SCOTUS clemency case
Posted on January 13, 2009Adam Liptak has this article in the New York Times, headlined "Weighing Reach of Law in Appeals for Clemency," discussing the oral argument before the Supreme Court yesterday in Harbison v. Bell. Here are excerpts: In an unusually testy argument,...
"Online sex offender info rapidly expands"
Posted on January 12, 2009The title of this post is the title of this effective article appearing at Stateline.org. Here is how it starts: Arizona parents who want to find out whether a suspicious e-mail has been sent by a registered sex offender now...
Death slows in Ohio, bringing more LWOP sentences
Posted on January 12, 2009This local AP article, headlined "Ohio death sentences declining: Crime rates are down; fewer criminals eligible," reports on the slow decline of the death penalty in Ohio. Here are excerpts: Ohio juries sentenced only three people to death last year,...
Latest FSR issue, pondering USSC's future, now available on-line
Posted on January 12, 2009I am pleased to report that, just in time for this week's public meeting of the US Sentencing Commission (basics here), the latest issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter is available on-line. The opening commentary, which I authored, is entitled...
What might 2009 have in store for . . . the US Sentencing Commission?
Posted on January 12, 2009I return to my 2009 "what's in store" series with a focus on the US Sentencing Commission, inspired by the fact that the USSC has its first public meeting of the year tomorrow morning. As detailed in this official announcement,...
A federal defendant prevails with a Second Amendment claim, sort of...
Posted on January 12, 2009Thanks to this post by Eugene Volokh, I can not longer assert that every lower court has turned back every defendants effort to base a legal claim on Heller and the Second Amendment. This post is titled, "The First (?)...
Should we celebrate Booker's fourth birthday?
Posted on January 12, 2009After a day on the road, I return to e-mail with a friendly reminder from a friendly reader that four years ago today the Supreme Court handed down Booker and converted the federal sentencing guidelines from mandates to advice. This...
Alaska's political leaders talking up a return of the death penalty
Posted on January 11, 2009As detailed in this local article, a number of notable political leaders in Alaska are talking about trying to bring the death penalty back to the state. Here are some of the details: Incoming state House speaker Mike Chenault is...
Assailing the unjustified Second Amendment limits in Heller
Posted on January 11, 2009As Randy Barnett notes here, "Nelson Lund has just uploaded to SSRN a new and important criticism of Justice Scalia's opinion in DC v. Heller ... [which] considers the exceptions to this right identified by Justice Scalia in dicta." The...
SCOTUS back in action with a busy criminal justice week
Posted on January 11, 2009After a month-long break, the Supreme Court is back in action this week. And, as detailed in this preview post at SCOTUSblog, more than half of the cases scheduled to be heard this coming week involve criminal justice issues. Of...
"Budget woes prompt states to rethink prison policy"
Posted on January 11, 2009The title of this post is the title of this effective AP article. Here is how it starts: Their budgets in crisis, governors, legislators and prison officials across the nation are making or considering policy changes that will likely remove...
Will Texas execute more than a dozen prisoners in the first quarter of 2009?
Posted on January 10, 2009Though not quite as eye-popping as this other Texas death row story, anyone who seriously studies the administration of capital punishment should be closely following the fact, as reported in this AP piece, that Texas is scheduled to execute a...
A (back-handed?) rejection of Booker retroactivity from the Sixth Circuit
Posted on January 10, 2009In addition to the Sixth Circuit's affirmance of a long within-guideline child porn sentence (discussed here), the court yesterday also rejected a claim that Booker should be applied retroactively in Duncan v. US, No. 06-5021 (6th Cir. Jan. 9, 2009)....
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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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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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