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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.
Supreme Court stays planned Georgia execution of Troy Davis
Posted on September 23, 2008As detailed here at SCOTUSblog, Tuesday afternoon the "Supreme Court blocked the scheduled execution Tuesday evening in Georgia of Troy Anthony Davis, giving itself time to consider his appeal challenging his conviction for the murder of an off-duty police officer...
Extended ABAJ article about sex offender registries
Posted on September 23, 2008The September issue of the ABA Journal includes this interesting article, headlined "Crime Registries Under Fire: Adam Walsh Act mandates sex offender lists, but some say it's unconstitutional." Here are excerpts from the start of the piece: Their names are...
Ninth Circuit covers new guideline issues in identity theft case
Posted on September 23, 2008A (partially split) Ninth Circuit panel today covers a lot of notable guidelines ground in the identity theft context in US v. Phan, No. 06-30469 (9th Cir. Sept 23, 2008) (available here). Here is the first paragraph of the majority...
Interesting Second Circuit ruling on supervised release conditions
Posted on September 23, 2008Another sad child porn downloading case has led to another interesting federal sentencing ruling today in US v. MacMillen, 07-3377 (2d Cir. Sept 23, 2008) (available here). Here is the first paragraph of the ruling in MacMillen: Defendant-appellant Christopher J...
Pennsylvania on verge of notable sentencing reforms
Posted on September 23, 2008As detailed in this local story and this AP account, important sentencing reforms are working their way through Pennsylvania. Here are the basics from the local reporting: Nonviolent offenders could spend less time in prison if they complete educational programs...
Georgia appears poised to execute Troy Davis despite innocence concerns
Posted on September 22, 2008As detailed in this AP story and this local piece from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, it appears that the state of Georgia is prepare to execute Troy Davis tomorrow despite concerns about his possible innocence. I have not follow this...
What will (or should) SCOTUS do on the Kennedy rehearing petition?
Posted on September 22, 2008Among lots of good new stuff at StandDown Texas Project is this interesting op-ed from Peter Verniero, who served as a New Jersey Supreme Court justice and state attorney general, on the Kennedy child rape case. The piece is headlined...
Deep thoughts on virtue and punishment
Posted on September 22, 2008Anyone interested in deep and different views in the never-ending punishment theory debate ought to check out this new paper on SSRN. The paper by Ekow Yankah is titled "Virtue's Domain," and here is the abstract: If at the end...
Evidence that judges will follow sensible sentencing guidelines
Posted on September 22, 2008Though I do not know all the particulars of the state sentencing guidelines in Pennsylvania, I do know that this local story highlights that sentencing judges will generally follow sentencing guidelines that provide sensible sentencing advice. The story is headlined...
Does money have no place in any life/death debate?
Posted on September 21, 2008Do readers think a respectable newspaper would boldly assert in an editorial that money has no place in the health care debate? Or in the debate over the war in Iraq? I certainly would view such assertions to be misguided,...
"The Candidates and the Court"
Posted on September 21, 2008The title of this post is the headline of this editorial today in the New York Times. Here are snippets: Among the many issues voters need to consider in this campaign is this vital fact: The next president is likely...
Deep reflections on sex offender residency restrictions
Posted on September 20, 2008Now available via this link at SSRN is a new piece by Shelley Ross Saxer, titled "Banishment of Sex Offenders: Individual Liberties, National Rights and the Dormant Commerce Clause, Environmental Justice, and Alternatives." Here is the abstract: Sex offender residency...
Patrick Lett's case (and a few other notable sentencing cases) among "Petitions to Watch"
Posted on September 19, 2008I am very pleased to see that the remarkable legal story of (my client) Patrick Lett has earned his case a place over here at SCOTUSblog on the list of cert petitions that SCOTUS guru Tom Goldstein "has deemed to...
Friday follies: "Woman Faces Federal Jail Time Over Spilled Soda"
Posted on September 19, 2008Thanks to this story from FOXNews, we apparently need to thank federal prosecutors for trying to keep our country safe from radical soda-pop terrorists that have started to infiltrate parts of our military establishment: An Idaho woman is facing federal...
Getting tough on cybercrime
Posted on September 19, 2008This local press story covers notable federal sentencing news involving cybercrime. The piece is headlined "Leahy's Web crime bill to become law," and here are some excerpts: President Bush will soon sign into law a bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy...
"At Sentencing, Youth Bares Soul, and Judge Bares His Pain"
Posted on September 19, 2008The title of this post is the title of this interesting article in today's New York Times. Here is how it begins: Justice Thomas Farber?s dilemma in a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday played itself out like a dramatic monologue. How...
NYU Center files amicus in Angelos case
Posted on September 18, 2008I noted in this recent post the launch of New York University School of Law's Center on the Administration of Criminal Law. I am pleased to spotlight the active role that the Center is starting to play in important criminal...
Deep thoughts about Kennedy while rehearing motion pending
Posted on September 18, 2008Among many cool aspects of the pending SCOTUS rehearing petition in the Kennedy child rape case is the possibility that the Justices might read some new scholarship about their work in Kennedy while considering whether to do a do-over. Just...
Notable split decisions from Third Circuit in government appeals of probationary sentences
Posted on September 18, 2008I suspect that everyone interested in federal sentencing jurisprudence will find something they like and something they don't like in two big rulings today from the Third Circuit. Here are basics of the two decisions, drawn from their openning paragraphs:...
Will California ever get back in the execution business?
Posted on September 18, 2008Howard Mintz has this interesting piece in the San Jose Mercury News, headlined "Appeals Court to Consider State's Death Penalty Gridlock." Here are excerpts: Five months after the U.S. Supreme Court offered a legal road map to states dealing with...
Proof of aphorism "no good deed goes unpunished"?
Posted on September 18, 2008Here is another notable example of how gun laws prohibiting felons from possessing guns can lead to strange developments in the federal criminal justice system. This local story, headined "Felon aided woman but kept gun and gets jail: Man not...
Additional briefing in Kennedy child rape rehearing debate
Posted on September 17, 2008Over at SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston in this post summarizes the new briefs filed today in the Kennedy child rape case. The post, which is titled "Court urged to hold fast against death for child rape" and includes links to the...
District Court finds AWA mandatory sentence unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment
Posted on September 17, 2008Thanks to this post at Sex Crimes, I have learned of this recent federal district court opinion which concludes "that a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence for [the defendant], under the specific facts of his case, is so grossly disproportionate to...
Too fat to execute using lethal injection?
Posted on September 17, 2008Obesity, sex and death are all to be found in this CNN story, headlined "Weight gain not intentional to dodge execution, inmate says." Here are the basics: A double murderer scheduled to be executed next month in Ohio said Tuesday...
Lots of new federal sentencing data from the USSC
Posted on September 17, 2008I am so very pleased to discover that the US Sentencing Commission has a lot of new data on its website this morning. Here is what's there as described by the USSC (with links): September 2008 Preliminary Post-Kimbrough/Gall Data Report:...
News of note in SCOTUS capital cases
Posted on September 17, 2008SCOTUSblog has these two new posts reporting on developments in capital cases before the Supreme Court: Plea for delay of Georgia execution Note to readers: Kennedy v. Louisiana The second post spotlights that we will have two more briefs to...
Georgia conducts first US execution in over a month
Posted on September 16, 2008Despite the expectation that lethal injections would increase after the Supreme Court's decision in Baze, before tonight there had not been a single execution in the United States in over a month. But tonight, as detailed in this local story,...
Is Heller like Griswold or like Roe or like ...?
Posted on September 16, 2008As I have been blogging since the Heller decision came down, it is going to take a long time and lots of litigation to unpack just what this Supreme Court decision means for the scope and application of individual Second...
JPI fact sheet suggests less prisoners = less violent crime
Posted on September 16, 2008Responding to yesterday's good news about lower crime rates (blogged here), the Justice Policy Institute released an interesting little fact sheet digging into the numbers a bit. This JPI fact sheet, available here, includes this significant insight: Regions with the...
New Brennen Center report on court-appointed defense counsel
Posted on September 16, 2008I just received this notice via e-mail: Today the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law releases a new report, "Eligible for Justice," exposing the lack of standards for determining who is eligible for court-appointed defense counsel. In...
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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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