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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.
ABA criminal justice transition recommendations
Posted on December 16, 2008I just tripped across this ABA webpagetitled "Transition 2008" through which the ABA sets out its recommended "legislative and executive branch actions and initiatives that will improve the justice system, promote the rule of law, ensure the nation's security, and...
Is anyone teaching a post-Heller seminar on the Second Amendment?
Posted on December 16, 2008As regular readers know well, I find the debate and litigation surrounding the Second Amendment after Heller to be fascinating (and also incomplete and stunted in various ways). For this reason and others, I have been lately toying with the...
Another prominent white-collar defendant gets a big variance
Posted on December 16, 2008As detailed in this early Bloomberg report, "Ronald Ferguson, the former chief executive officer of General Reinsurance Corp., was sentenced to two years in prison for helping American International Group Inc. deceive shareholders." Here are more details of what sounds...
When can guideline errors be harmless (and when is procedural error is not "significant") after Gall?
Posted on December 16, 2008An otherwise ordinary Sixth Circuit opinion today in US v. Shor, No. 07-2334 (6th Cir. Dec. 16, 2008) (available here), has this extraordinary little footnote: Both parties cite pre-Bookercases for the proposition that our review of the district court?s interpretation...
A modest(?) proposal for filling the bench from the ivory tower
Posted on December 16, 2008Law prof Carl Tobias has this new piece online at FindLaw that is sure to get the law professor blogs a buzzing. Titled "Why Barack Obama, as President, Should Nominate Leading Law Professors for Seats on the Federal Appeals Court,"...
Another example of gender bias in adult-youth sex offense sentencing?
Posted on December 16, 2008I am noticing more and more sentencing cases involving sexual trysts older women and younger boys in which gender dynamics seem to have a major impact on sentencing outcomes. Here is a local report on another such case from Colorado:...
"Rethinking Juvenile Justice"
Posted on December 15, 2008The title of this post is the title of this new entry on SSRN, which provides a means to download the first chapter of this new book from Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg. Here is the abstract of the book...
Early federal sentencing data presents from the US Sentencing Commission
Posted on December 15, 2008Data junkies, rejoice! The number-crunching elves working inside the US Sentencing Commission (which is inside the Beltway just south of the North Pole) have finished making the present that every federal sentencing nerd like me wants for the holidays: new...
"A year later, state assesses justice without death penalty"
Posted on December 15, 2008The title of this post is the title of this intriguing article in today's Newark Star-Ledger. Here is an excerpt: A year later, prosecutors and defense lawyers agree the demise of the death penalty has had no discernible impact on...
A timely(?) call for greater attention to mens rea in the criminal law
Posted on December 15, 2008Via e-mail I received a link to this interesting "Legal Opinion Letter" from the folks at the Washington Legal Foundation. The short letter is titled "Mens ReaRequirement: A Critical Casualty Of Overcriminalization," and it is mostly critical of the broad...
Notable little Fifth Circuit ruling on constitutional requirements for back-end sentencing decisions
Posted on December 15, 2008Especially in light of renewed interest in second-look sentencing issues and also the modern revolution of sentencing procedures, the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Boss vs. Quarterman, No. 07-50448 (5th Cir. Dec. 12, 2008) (available here) merits some attention...
Headaches on the path to Holder's AG confirmation
Posted on December 15, 2008The Legal Times has this interesting new piece headlined, "GOP Signals Rough Path to AG Position for Holder." Here is a snippet: Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama questioned Holder's fitness to be attorney general. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said...
You make the AG call: should feds seek death for courthouse killer Brian Nichols?
Posted on December 14, 2008I suppose I should not be surprised to see this news reportout of Atlanta, which indicates that the state DA unable to get the death penalty for courthouse killer Brian Nichols now wants the feds to give it go: Fulton...
Seeking refinement in sex offender registration requirements
Posted on December 14, 2008This fascinating article from the Houston Chronicle, headlined "Unlikely force fighting sex crime's stigma: Texas Voices wants laws to note difference between dangerous predators, nonviolent offenders," spotlights a group seeking to refine which and how offenders appear on sex offender...
A creative sentence involving creative writing
Posted on December 14, 2008This local story, headlined "Two drug offenders ordered to write essays," reports on a creative sentence imposed recently in a New Jersey state court: Two former Long Valley residents who were charged in February, along with a third roommate, with...
ABA "Second Look" Roundtable examining back-end sentencing mechanisms and reforms
Posted on December 14, 2008I had the honor and privilege last Monday to take part in an amazing event put together by the ABA, which focused on back-end sentencing issues. Here is an effective summary of the event provided by its chief organizer, Margaret...
"Prosecutorial Regulation Versus Prosecutorial Accountability"
Posted on December 13, 2008The title of this post is the title of an important new paper from Stephanos Bibas now avaialble here via SSRN. Here is the paper's abstract: No government official has as much unreviewable power or discretion as the prosecutor. Few...
More headlines showing the continuing death of the death penalty
Posted on December 13, 2008It is hard to read the newspapers (on-line, of course) without seeing more and more headlines showing how the death penalty is continuing to die a slow death. Here are the headlines of note just from today's papers: From the...
A thoughtful and theory-driven exploration of a parsimonious white-collar sentence
Posted on December 12, 2008I am very pleased to conclude the week by posting a copy of a terrifically thoughtful district court sentencing opinion in a white-collar sentencing case. The ruling comes from Judge James Gwin in US v. Cole, No. 5:08-cr-00327 (N.D. Ohio...
Maine judge finds mandatory sentence constitutionally excessive in unusual setting
Posted on December 12, 2008This local AP story reports on an interesting state sentencing ruling: A Maine judge says the state?s mandatory sentencing law for habitual driving offenders was too harsh to impose on a Vietnam War veteran convicted of continuing to drive after...
Is there a law student sentencing discount for federal child porn charges?
Posted on December 12, 2008In this post a few months ago, I responded to a story headlined "Penn hacker sentenced, avoids child porn charges," by wondering if there was an an ivy-leaguer exception to federal child porn charges. Today, this new local story of...
A refreshing reminder from Washington (state) that clemencies can be virtuous and deserved
Posted on December 12, 2008With all the renewed discussion of President Clinton's ugly pardon of Marc Rich and debates over which friends President Bush might pardon, it is all too easy to forget the virtuous facets of the clemency power. Fortunately, thanks to this...
Lots of holiday gifts from BJS for data junkies
Posted on December 12, 2008This is the time of year in which the Bureau of Justice Statistics releases a whole bunch of statistics about prisoners and others under state and federal criminal control. This year I got an e-mail from BJS providing links to...
Will we invest in classrooms or cells in these tough times?
Posted on December 11, 2008Eric Lotke blogging over at the website of the Campaign for America?s Future has this notable and important new post titled "Good Building, Bad Building." Here are some snippets from today's must-read (with lots of great links not copied here):...
Any profound thoughts on the state of federal sentencing a year after Gall and Kimbrough?
Posted on December 11, 2008It just dawned on me this morning that yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decisions in Gall and Kimbrough, the two cases in which the Justices made extra clear that Booker really meant that the guidelines were...
DPIC releases year-end report on state of death penalty in 2008
Posted on December 11, 2008Because there are no more executions scheduled for 2008, the Death Penalty Information Center was able to release its annual report on the death penalty early this year. The report is available at this link, and it has these two...
Noting the Second Circuit's approval of big white-collar sentencing break
Posted on December 11, 2008The National Law Journal noticed the Second Circuit's important (though unpublished) sentencing work earlier this week as reported in this article, headlined "In Upholding Impath Exec's Sentence, 2nd Circuit Bolsters Discretion of Trial Judges." Here are snippets from an effective...
Fugitive mom back in Michigan court pleading for a sentencing break three decades later
Posted on December 11, 2008Some may recall the remarkable story of long-time fugitive Susan LeFevre (background here), a drug crime defendant who escaped from a Michigan prison in the 1970s and lived for three decades and raised a family in California under another name....
An effective review of the state of debate over the death penalty
Posted on December 10, 2008Stateline.org has this effective new piece on the state of legislative debates over the death penalty in a few states. The piece it titled, "Death penalty: Will other states follow N.J.?", and here are excerpts: A year after New Jersey...
An honest (and honorable?) gendered sentencing outcome in adult-teen sex case
Posted on December 10, 2008I have blogged in the past about how the sentencing of crimes involving adult-teen sexual relations often seems influenced by the genders of the adult and the teen. The sentencing case from New Hampshire reported in this AP article, which...
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you should be getting a mileage comp. I own my own company and I pay my employee...
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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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