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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.
More great SCOTUS briefing on the rule of lenity
Posted on January 30, 2008As noted in this prior post, the petitioner in Burgess v. United States, No. 06-11429 ? a case concerning the application of a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence imposed under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A) ? filed a merits brief last week...
Lynne Stewart appeal raising lots of notable issues
Posted on January 30, 2008As detailed in press reports assembled here and here by How Appealing, there were "intense arguments Tuesday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals" over the federal conviction and sentence of defense attorney Lynne Stewart. This New York Law...
A (last?) federal juve parole case
Posted on January 30, 2008A distinctive case and facts leads to an interesting opinion from the Tenth Circuit in Alexander v. US Parole Commission, No. 06-1343 (10th Cir. Jan 29, 2008) (available here). Here is how the opinion begins: The Federal Youth Corrections Act...
Murder, media and other capital mayhem
Posted on January 30, 2008I have been meaning all week to spotlight Jeffrey Toobin's fascinating essay in The New Yorker about all the craziness surrounding the crimes and trials and tribulations of Brian Nichols, the notorious Georgia courthouse shooter. Here was one of many...
Two notable Rita remands from the Eighth Circuit
Posted on January 30, 2008The Eighth Circuit today has two notable (and notably similar) remands based on Rita. My friends cut and paste help me provide these unofficial summaries from this official circuit webpage: US v. William Greene, No: 07-1479 [PUBLISHED] [Bye, Author, with...
Another long sentence for a chief involved in corporate fraud
Posted on January 29, 2008As detailed in reports from Bloomberg News and Reuters, another corporate fraud led to another very long prison sentence in federal court today. Here are some notable highlights from the Bloomberg report: Daniel Marino, the former finance chief of the...
"Religion and the Death Penalty: Can't have one without the other?"
Posted on January 29, 2008I have long admired the thought-provoking writings of Walter Berns on the death penalty, particularly his great Harper's piece from nearly 30 years ago, titled "For capital punishment: The morality of anger" (excerpts here). Showing that he can still raise...
Two great sentencing opinions from the true heartland
Posted on January 29, 2008I am pleased this afternoon to spotlight two strong recent sentencing opinions from Chief District Judge Joseph Bataillon in US v. Baird and US v. McCormick. This summary of Baird comes from a helpful reader: I don't think you have...
The latest sentencing wisdom from the Sixth Circuit
Posted on January 29, 2008An array of Sixth Circuit panels keep churning out thoughtful sentencing opinions. The latest one comes today in US v. Vowell, No. 06-5742 (6th Cir. Jan. 29, 2008) (available here), which starts this way: Co-Defendants/Appellants Katherine Sue Pratt (?Pratt?) and...
Seeing the (inevitable) light on faith-based prisons and re-entry programs
Posted on January 29, 2008I have long been intrigued by ? and an agnostic supporter of ? faith-based prison and re-entry programs, largely because these programs emphasize the rehabilitative needs and potential of criminal offenders when politicians only want to posture about being the...
A sentencing scorecard on backdating convictions
Posted on January 29, 2008This new Reuters article, which reports on the latest sentencing following a conviction for options backdating, also provides this effective review of the outcomes in a series of backdating conviction: A former chief financial officer of information security company SafeNet...
Notable new defender resources on crack retroactivity implementation
Posted on January 28, 2008Over at the Crack Cocaine Guideline Amendment resource page of the Office of Defender Services website I just saw a bunch of interesting new resources discussing the implementation of the new crack guidelines retroactively. Here are the new materials that...
Will President Bush's last State of the Union address have any crime and justice talk?
Posted on January 28, 2008Though President George Bush's last few State of the Union addresses have lacked any criminal justice talk, it bears recalling that his SotU history includes a few criminal justice surprises: Calling America "the land of second chance," President Bush in...
Two notable sentencing rulings from the Eighth Circuit
Posted on January 28, 2008More proof that Gall and Kimbrough do not mean defendants always win sentencing appeals comes from two published decisions today from the Eighth Circuit. My friends cut and paste help me provide these unofficial summaries from this official circuit webpage:...
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Japan's International Child Abduction Policy
By Kirsten Brown (AXcess News) Washington - Four fathers quietly f...
Eminent domain, demographics and immigration policy
On the face of it, you may be wondering what eminent domain,...
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...

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...








