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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.
Another interesting attack on retributivism
Posted on October 08, 2008As noted in recent posts here and here, Adam Kolber's recent scholarly work seems designed to sow discontent with standard retributivist punishment justification. And, as documented by this revised paper appearing anew on SSRN, Professor Kolber apparently has a fellow...
Around the blogosphere
Posted on October 08, 2008Lots of interesting new stuff for sentencing fans at these always interesting blogs: Crime and Consequences Grits for Breakfast Pardon Power White Collar Crime Prof
Has there been a single pro-gun-rights rulings in lower courts since Heller?
Posted on October 08, 2008Today I came across promotions for two new books that both appear to be celebrating the Supreme Court's Second Amendment ruling in Heller: The Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over...
"Calculating Loss Under the Guidelines"
Posted on October 08, 2008The title of this post is the title of this new article in the New York Law Journal by Robert Morvillo and Robert Anello. Here is how this effective piece starts and ends: Prosecutors sometimes appear to vie for placement...
Could tonight's town hall debate finally bring up crime and punishment issues?
Posted on October 07, 2008I am consistently disappointed whenever I start hoping the Presidential candidates will talk seriously about crime and punishment issues. Nevertheless, my single-issue-blogger hope springs eternal, and perhaps the town hall setting for tonight's debate could help facilitate some discussion of...
Another puzzling report on federal child porn sentence
Posted on October 07, 2008Regular readers may get tired of my regular anecdotal reports on federal child porn sentencings, but I continue to struggle to figure out how different US Attorney offices are dealing with these sad cases. For example, consider the remarkable case...
Seventh Circuit reiterates duty to explain sentencing decision
Posted on October 07, 2008In an important new article discussed here, Professor Michael O'Hear makes a strong argument that district courts should feel a strong obligation to "explain themselves when they reject a defendant's argument" for a lower sentence. In light of his arguments,...
A dollars and sense criticism of Senator Obama's crime-fighting plans
Posted on October 07, 2008Writing over at Slate, Radley Balko has this very interesting critique of Senator Obama's latest campaign talk about crime and justice issues. The piece is titled "Bad Cop: Why Obama is getting criminal justice policy wrong," and here are snippets...
"Heinous, Atrocious, and Cruel: Apprendi, Indeterminate Sentencing, and the Meaning of Punishment"
Posted on October 07, 2008The title of this post is the title of this new article on SSRN, and the article is a must-read for me simply because the title incorporates so many of my favorite jurisprudential buzz-words. And, as this abstract highlights, the...
Cooperation prompts prosecutors to seek delay in Rezko sentencing
Posted on October 07, 2008As detailed in this Chicago Tribune article, a high-profile sentencing may be put on the back-burner because the defendant is working with prosecutors. Here are the specifics: In the first official sign that Antoin "Tony" Rezko and his lawyers are...
Assailing LWOP for juvenile offenders
Posted on October 06, 2008This new paper appearing on SSRN, titled "Sentencing Our Children to Die in Prison: Global Law and Practice," takes aim at the sentencing of juvenile offenders to life imprisonment without parole. Here is the abstract: This article focuses on the...
Pace of executions remains slow and not so steady six months after Baze
Posted on October 06, 2008The Death Penalty Information Center has now posted here its latest accounting of all the executions in the United States since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal injection protocol in Baze v. Rees. As I have noted...
New local law tries to prevent sex offenders from "clustering"
Posted on October 06, 2008This local story from Florida, headlined "New law prohibits sex offenders from clustering," reports on what appears to be another new type of regulation on where sex offenders may live. Here are the details, along with an indication that some...
Still more proof that federal courts have no real interest in gun rights
Posted on October 06, 2008I am not especially surprised that the Second Amendment ruling in Heller has not changed the extreme sentences being handed out for federal gun possession crimes in federal courts. And yet I cannot help but note some of the disturbing...
Is Senator McCain preparing to attack Senator Obama on crime issues?
Posted on October 06, 2008Over at The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder has this notable new post suggesting that old-school "soft-on-crime" attacks are part of Senator McCain's strategy to get back his mojo in the final month of the 2008 campaign: This Tuesday's debate will determine....
No action in Davis, cert denied in Lett and Vonner, a few Gall GVRs
Posted on October 06, 2008The Supreme Court has started its new Term by releasing this long order list, which includes a number of notable denials of cert. Most disappointing to me is the appearance of my client, Patrick Lett, on the long list of...
OJ Simpson subject to 15-year mandatory minimum (though with parole)
Posted on October 06, 2008Writing here at SI.com, law professor Michael McCann provides an effective review of "the key questions following the guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson on all 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping." Here is the Q&A on sentencing: What will...
Sentencing sleepers at start of sleepy SCOTUS term
Posted on October 05, 2008As suggested in new SCOTUS preview articles from Adam Liptak in the New York Times and Tony Mauro in Legal Times, there are no obvious blockbuster cases on the Supreme Court's docket as the Justice start their new Term this...
New Hampshire latest state exploring incarceration alternatives
Posted on October 05, 2008As detailed in this AP article, New Hampshire can be added to the states seriously exploring alternatives to incarceration. Here are a few details: New Hampshire is involved in multiple efforts to evaluate the benefits of alternative sentencing programs for...
"Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice"
Posted on October 04, 2008The title of this post is the title of this great-looking article from Professors Joe Hoffmann and Nancy King now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Essay argues that federal habeas review of state criminal cases squanders resources...
Now that OJ Simpson has been found guilty, should his sentence be enhanced based on his (acquitted) prior killings?
Posted on October 04, 2008As detailed in this AP article, late yesterday OJ Simpson was found guilty in state court of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Here are more particulars from this Los Angeles Times article: Simpson and his...
More examples of sentencing uncertainty surrounding federal child porn cases
Posted on October 03, 2008Regular readers may recall some of my recent posts discussing my observations of an extraordinary amount of variation in charging, bargaining and sentencing realities in federal child porn downloading cases. Two more notable examples came across my desk just today:...
Friday funnies from the DC Circuit
Posted on October 03, 2008Though not really a sentencing case, an introductory parargraph of the DC Circuit's work this morning in Hurt v. SSA, No. 06-5339 (DC Cir. Oct. 3, 2008) (available here), does mention the Eighth Amendment. And, more importantly, it provides some...
Californians to vote on major drug sentencing reform on election day
Posted on October 03, 2008As detailed in this Los Angeles Times article, headlined "Prop. 5 would overhaul sentencing of drug offenders," voters in California next month will have a chance to vote on a proposition that would alter the state's drug sentencing laws. Here...
Latest BJS census of correctional facilities
Posted on October 03, 2008A new report just released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, titled "Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005" provides an accounting of nationwide facilities locking up individuals in the Unites States. The new BJS report is available online...
Rooting for crime and punishment to come up in VP debate
Posted on October 02, 2008As regular readers know, I have been hoping that crime and punishment issues would get more attention during the 2008 campaign. Perhaps because I am an eternal optimist, I have a inkling that tonight's VP debate might get into some...
A better example of sex-offense plea deal gender disparity?
Posted on October 02, 2008I noted here earlier this week a report about a federal sex offense case in which prosecutors allowed a defendant to plead guilty in a way that enabled her to avoid being subject to a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence. I...
Thoughtful and nuanced discussion of procedural reasonableness from Tenth Circuit
Posted on October 02, 2008The Tenth Circuit issued a lengthy opinion yesterday in US v. Mendoza, No. 07-3181 (10th Cir. Oct. 1, 2008) (available here), that addresses a number of notable procedural issues in the course of rejecting a government appeal of a below-guideline...
Kennedy (lack of) rehearing wrap-up and the future of criminal justice federalism
Posted on October 02, 2008Over at SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston puts a final spin on the Supreme Court's rejection of the rehearing petition of Louisiana in the Kennedy child rape case with this post titled "Analysis: The death penalty calculus is unchanged." And How Appealing...
Interesting amicus brief on post-Booker sentences of probation
Posted on October 01, 2008As noted here, the Third Circuit a few months ago granted rehearing en banc in US v. Tomko (panel decision blogged here), a case in which a panel members had written at length about reasonableness when reviewing a probation sentence...
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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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