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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.
"Can an 11-year-old be a sex offender?"
Posted on August 20, 2010The question in the title of this post is the headline of this intriguing piece at Salon reporting on a recent case from England. Here is how the piece starts: To tell it one way, on Wednesday, a British judge...
Notable Eleventh Circuit ruling on use of force on mentally ill prisoners
Posted on August 20, 2010The Eleventh Circuit has a long discussion of the use of force against prisoners in Florida in its ruling today in Thomas v. Bryant, No. 09-11658 (11th Cir. Aug. 20, 2010) (available here). Here is how the legthy opinion gets...
Three notable sentencing opinions from the Eighth Circuit
Posted on August 20, 2010While I was busy teaching this morning, the Eighth Circuit handed down a notable set of published sentencing opinions Here is the unofficial summaries of the rulings (with links) from the Eighth Circuit's website: United States v. Earl Foy, Jr.,...
"Deal or No Deal: Why Courts Should Allow Defendants to Present Evidence that They Rejected Favorable Plea Bargains"
Posted on August 19, 2010The title of this post is the title of this new interesting piece on plea practices by Colin Miller available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: Federal Rule of Evidence 410 deems inadmissible statements made during plea discussions when offered...
California legislature considering bill to eliminate juve LWOP for any crimes
Posted on August 19, 2010The Supreme Court in Graham declared unconstitutional the imposition of life-without-parole for juvenile offenders who commit nonhomicide offenses. Now, as detailed in this article, the California legislature is considering a bill to eliminate juve LWOP for any crime...
Roger Clemens to be indicted for perjury for false statement to Congress
Posted on August 19, 2010This breaking story from the New York Times interests me as a baseball fan and as a criminal law and sentencing professor. It is headlined "Clemens to Be Indicted for Perjury in Doping Testimony," and gets started this way: Federal...
Unanimous rejection of clemency bid for Ohio death row inmate claiming innocence
Posted on August 19, 2010This local story, which is headlined "Parole Board recommends execution for Bucyrus killer," reports on the latest developing in a high-profile capital case in Ohio. Here are the basics: A panel recommended today that Gov. Ted Strickland not spare the...
New US Sentencing Commission report on changes to criminal history computation
Posted on August 19, 2010The US Sentencing Commission has this new reportup on its website that will likely not get much old or new media attention, but should be of great interest to hard-core federal sentencing nerds like me. First, here is how the...
Longshore workers union in California endorses marijuana legalization proposition
Posted on August 19, 2010I continue to be interested in the ways in which various public policy and advocacy groups weigh in on Proposition 19, the ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in California. This local story, headlined "Bay Area longshore workers want to....
ACLU of Ohio produces major report on prison growth and problems
Posted on August 18, 2010As detailed in this article from the Columbus Dispatch, which is headlined "ACLU: Ohio prisons in crisis: Senators of both parties agree that system is costly, overcrowded," the ACLU has a new and timely report on Ohio's prison costs and...
Terrific piece in The Atlantic on "Prison Without Walls"
Posted on August 18, 2010The September issue of The Atlantic magazine includes this terrific piece focused on technocorrections like GPS tracking under the headline "Prison Without Walls." The lengthy piece is a must-read and here is a long excerpt that highlights some reasons why...
Need to predict risk of criminal behavior..., there's an app for that!
Posted on August 18, 2010The title of this post is prompted by this notable new piece from MSNBC headlined "Software predicts criminal behavior: Algorithm could influence sentencing recommendations and bail amounts." Here is how it starts: New crime prediction software being rolled out in...
"Dothan drug suspect asks for more prison time"
Posted on August 18, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this intriguing local article reporting on an Alabama state case which highlights that defendants are not always eager for the shortest possible prison term. Here are the details: A convicted felon...
Two interesting new commentaries on prison reform in the Obama era
Posted on August 18, 2010The folks at AOL have recently published these two interesting commentaries on prison reform: Will Obama Take On Prison Reform? Opinion: Why Obama Should Take on Prison Reform The second piece ends this way: The Obama administration has the perfect...
Is letting prisoners vote a "dangerous idea"?
Posted on August 18, 2010The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new entry at the website Big Think. The entry is titled "Let Prisoners Vote," which is part of their "Dangerous Ideas" series, which says that "August is the...
"3rd trip to Texas death chamber for grieving dad"
Posted on August 17, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this notable local article from Texas providing a notable perspective on one victim's view of the administration of the death penalty in a high-profile case: Randy Ertman knows the road to...
State judge frees defendant subject to harshest aspect of California's three-strikes law
Posted on August 17, 2010This Los Angeles Times article report on a notable new development in a notable three-strikes sentencing case from California. The piece is headlined "Finally, a convict's third strike is struck: Gregory Taylor was a homeless man when he was arrested...
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich convicted of one count
Posted on August 17, 2010As detailed in this breaking AP report, today a "federal jury found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty of one count of lying to federal agents." Here are more details: The judge in the case said he planned to call...
Two interesting (and very different) sentencing procedure rulings from the Third Circuit
Posted on August 16, 2010Back from a summer weekend, the federal circuit courts have handed down today a lot of noteworthy sentencing decision, and two from the Third Circuit seem especially blogworthy. Here are links and the starting paragraphs from the work of two...
Below-guideline (but still significant) prison sentence for scientist convicted of violating a trade embargo with Iran
Posted on August 16, 2010This AP story headlined "Iran-embargo defendant gets 2 1/2 years in prison" and this BusinessWeek story headlined "Ex-McKinsey Consultant Gets 2 1/2 Years in Iran Case," both report on an interesting and unusual federal sentencing today in NYC. Here are...
"More Different than Life, Less Different than Death"
Posted on August 16, 2010The title of this post is the title of this terrific-looking new piece by William Berry which discusses the Supreme Court's recent work in the juve LWOP case of Graham v. Florida and makes an argument for LWOP sentences to...
Fascinating juve crime and modern parole story from Georgia
Posted on August 16, 2010The front-page of CNN.com has this interesting story of crime and punishment from Georgia that implicates a lot of modern issues about sentencing law, policy and practice. The piece is headlined "Family uses killer's letters to keep him behind bars,"...
"Aging inmates straining prison systems"
Posted on August 16, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this effective new AP article. Here is how the piece starts: Curtis Ballard rides a motorized wheelchair around his prison ward, which happens to be the new assisted living unit ?...
Should we be pleased or frustrated when an accused murderer commits suicide while in custody?
Posted on August 15, 2010The provocative question in the title for this post is inspired by this breaking news via CNN, which is headlined "Police: Accused Craigslist killer dead of apparent suicide." Here are the story basics: A onetime medical student who was facing...
"What price is too high for death row?"
Posted on August 15, 2010The question in the title of this post come from the headline of this editorial in today's Sacramento Bee. Here are excerpts: In a twisted sense of timing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has placed the exorbitant cost of California's theoretical death...
"Electronic bracelets to track gun-toting Memphis juveniles"
Posted on August 15, 2010The title of this post is the notable headline of this notable local article from Tennessee. Here are the intriguing particulars of one of the the latest use of technocorrections (which is being funded by federal tax dollars): Memphis police...
Potent opinion piece asserting "justice denied" in the Rubashkin case
Posted on August 15, 2010Appearing now in the National Law Journal is this potent commentaryby Professor Robert Steinbuch and former US Attorney Brett Tolman, which is headlined "Justice denied: Rubashkin's sentence is wholly inappropriate for the crimes of which he was convicted...
SCOTUSblog predicting that Acting SG Neal Katyal will get to officially become the next Tenth Justice
Posted on August 14, 2010Tom Goldstein has this interesting new post titled "Anticipating the next Solicitor General: The likely selection of Neal Katyal." Here is how it starts and ends: The interim appointment of an Acting Principal Deputy Solicitor General this week got me...
"Is Life Sentence Too Harsh For Man Convicted of Ninth DWI?"
Posted on August 14, 2010The question in the title of this post is the headline of this new ABC News report on a noteworthy state sentence handed down in Texas this past week. Regular readers will not be surprised to here that my personal...
"Some Reflections on Ethics and Plea Bargaining: An Essay in Honor of Fred Zacharias"
Posted on August 13, 2010It seems like I have decided to make this summer Friday a good day for reading about plea bargaining. In addition to this recently noted piece, the title of this post references another great-looking plea bargaining read available here via...
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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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