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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.
A fascinating new blog to watch
Posted on March 03, 2008Fans of the thoughtful criminal justice writings of Professor Bill Stuntz will want to check out his new blog, Less Than The Least (which is co-authored by David Skeel). Here is the blog's notable introduction: We are both law professors...
"Are Liberals Responsible For Mass Incarceration?"
Posted on March 03, 2008The title of my post here comes from this intriguing post by SHG over at the great blog Simple Justice: A New York Criminal Defense Blog. At that blog, SHG indicates that he "look(s) forward to lively and thoughtful discussion,"...
Still more concerns about juve LWOP
Posted on March 03, 2008One of the most clear impacts of the Supreme Court's decision to make juveniles ineligible for the death penalty has been greater public policy and public attention given to juveniles sentenced to very long prison terms. The latest example of...
Justices take another long break without resolving Baze
Posted on March 03, 2008Lawyers and judges in state and lower federal courts in regions with active capital punishment systems are accustomed to speedy appellate litigation in which complicated death penalty issues must be resolved sometimes in a matter of days or hours because...
Conrad Black gets a peek inside the American criminal justice system and does not like what he sees
Posted on March 03, 2008Writing for New York Sun, Conrad Black has this remarkable op-ed entitled "My Faith in American Justice." Here are snippets: It is a terrible thing to be falsely accused, and wrongly convicted, even of a fraction of the original charges,...
Potent state sentencing op-ed from Arizona
Posted on March 02, 2008This morning's Arizona Daily Star has this notable op-ed headlined "Sentencing laws are senseless." Here are snippets: Gov. Janet Napolitano's 2008-2009 proposed budget includes almost $1 billion for the annual expense of maintaining our adult and juvenile prison system...
Interesting paper gives another perspective on Pew data
Posted on March 01, 2008Providing a fitting follow-up to this week's Pew Center report, "One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008" (discussed here), is this new article on SSRN titled "Years of Life Lost to Prison: Racial and Gender Gradients in the United...
Q&A on crack retroactivity
Posted on March 01, 2008US News and World Report has this new piece, headlined "The Impact of Releasing Crack Offenders," that includes a Q&A with Judge Reggie Walton. Here how the piece introduces the Q&A: Judge Reggie Walton, a U.S. district court judge in...
Keeping track of coportate punishment (and its deferral)
Posted on March 01, 2008Mary Flood has this interesting new piece in the Houston Chronicle, headlined "Justice's deals draw scrutiny: Research by Houston lawyers takes issue with corporate penalties." Here are snippets, including a closing quote from yours truly: The research of two Houston...
Is AG Mukasey going soft on the federal death penalty?
Posted on March 01, 2008Thanks to this post at TalkLeft, I saw this local article reporting that new Attorney General Michael Mukasey is unwilling to support the toughest federal charges against a murderous drug kingpin. Here are the basics: Federal prosecutors say they will...
Senator Clinton talks a good game on sentencing reform
Posted on February 29, 2008A helpful reader sent me this link from a Vibe Magazing Q&A with Senator Hillary Clinton. This portion is especially notable in light of Senator Clinton's expressed opposition to crack retroactivity: VIBE: In your speech, you talked about having first,...
Lots of coastal circuit sentencing talk
Posted on February 29, 2008Busy days and bigger issues have kept me from keeping up with all of this week's circuit sentencing law, but I did notice two recent rulings from the coasts that local folk will want to give a look: From the...
Playing with the economics of the death penalty
Posted on February 28, 2008A helpful reader forwarded to me this fascinating local story headlined, "Arapahoe County DA Charges Death-Penalty Fees to the State: How does DA Carol Chambers beat the high cost of a death-penalty prosecution? By billing the prison system." Here is...
Potent new Pew report documents 1 in 100 prison reality
Posted on February 28, 2008As detailed in this press release, "[a]ccording to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States? Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or one...
An economically astute(?) forfeiture approach to sex offenders
Posted on February 28, 2008As this article spotlights, legislators in Kentucky are talking about an new way to punish sex offenders: Two state representatives from Northern Kentucky want the property of sex offenders confiscated so that those who use the Internet to lure their...
The tough-on-crime turn in the UK
Posted on February 27, 2008Across the pond, the Prospect magazine has this long essay, titled Crime and punishment. Here is the article's sub-heading: "Britain is locking up more people than ever?a policy that some say accounts for falling crime. But there may be other...
An important prosecutorial perspective on modern federal sentencing
Posted on February 27, 2008Just posted on SSRN is this terrific looking new article by Dan Richman, titled "Federal Sentencing in 2007: The Supreme Court Holds ? The Center Doesn't." Here is the abstract: This article takes stock of federal sentencing after 2007, the...
Around the blogosphere
Posted on February 27, 2008There are lots of new posts of interest at a lot of old favorites: Capital Defense Weekly Crime and Consequences Grits for Breakfast Sex Crimes Though there a lot good at all these locales, Grits does especially awesome work in...
Cracked history: How Hillary Clinton really "played the race card" and Sean Wilentz failed to notice
Posted on February 27, 2008Writing at length in the New Republic, historian Sean Wilentz throws strong charges at the Obama campaign in this piece titled, "Race Man: How Barack Obama played the race card and blamed Hillary Clinton." Though the interesting piece should be...
How do I love thee (USSC data), let me count the ways (to sentence)
Posted on February 27, 2008I noted here that I was hoping to see some US Sentencing Commission data on whether the Gall and Kimbrough rulings might be having a big impact on district court sentencing outcomes. Joyfully, the USSC today scratches my data itch...
Insider myopia and the diverse benefits of a short bench
Posted on February 26, 2008Jeffrey Rosen has this remarkable ? and depressingly telling ? article online at The New Republic, titled "Short Bench: Why the Dems lack Supreme Court nominees." Here is a taste: As Democrats dream about the possibility of retaking the White...
Another notable notice opinion before Irizarry
Posted on February 26, 2008The Supreme Court will soon hear argument in Irizarry (basics here and here), a case which will force the Justice to explore "departures" and "variances" in the context of Rule 32(h)'s application after Booker. As Irizarry buzz builds, the Sixth...
What if Jim Comey had succeeded John Ashcroft as AG?
Posted on February 26, 2008Especially with AG Mukasey continuing to lament crack retroactivity, it is interesting to ponder what might have happened if President Bush had picked someone other than Alberto Gonzales to be his Attorney General at the start of his second term...
Is AG Mukasey rightful to fear men and his former judicial colleagues?
Posted on February 26, 2008As detailed in this CNN story, Attorney General Michael Mukasey continues to preach that his former colleagues (namely, federal district judges) cannot be trusted to make sound and safe decisions concerning which defendants get the benefit of the new federal...
The interesting softer turn in Mississippi parole practices
Posted on February 26, 2008Proving yet again that the most interesting and dynamic sentencing stories emerge from states, this local article discussed a notable development in Mississippi: The Mississippi House voted Monday to ease the state?s truth in sentencing law. By a vote of...
More on smart guns, dumb technologies and market realities
Posted on February 26, 2008Following up my earlier post on smart guns, Eugene Volokh asks his readers why they think there has not been any progress on smart gun technology in recent years. The comments make for very interesting reading, though there seems to...
Congress may push for Clemens perjury prosecution
Posted on February 26, 2008The New York Times this morning reports here on the latest doings in the Roger Clemens HGH brouhaha: A Congressional committee has taken the first steps toward asking the Department of Justice to start a criminal investigation into whether Roger...
Interesting new op-ed on crack sentencing and clemency
Posted on February 25, 2008Two of my favorite co-authors, Profs Marc Miller and Steve Chanenson, have this new op-ed in the Dallas Morning News headlined "Bush should give clemency to fix unfair crack sentences." Here are excerpts: Crack is back before Congress. Attorney General...
The politics of clemencies and pardons in Campaign 2008
Posted on February 25, 2008I often lament that sentencing issues have not been significant political issues of late, especially because the shifting focus to Ohio and Texas should justify some discussion of death and dollars in the two leading execution states. Fortunately, folks interested...
House hearing Tuesday on crack sentencing disparity
Posted on February 25, 2008As detailed on this official webpage, the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security is holding a hearing tomorrow afternoon titled "Cracked Justice ? Addressing the Unfairness in Cocaine Sentencing." I have no idea who is scheduled to testify,...
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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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