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Defender Testimony Before USSC on Proposed Amendments Useful Now

By Shari Allison

The United Sentencing Commission is considering guideline amendments that would encourage drug treatment for a few defendants, consideration of certain offender characteristics, eliminating or restricting use of criminal history recency points, and immigration-related departures. Margy Meyers, the incoming chair of the Federal Defender Sentencing Guidelines Committee, and Marianne Mariano, Federal Public Defender for the Western District of New York, presented the viewpoint of the Federal and Community Defenders to the Commission on March 17, 2010. Their written testimony is available here . This excellent document contains information and ideas that can be used for sentencing memos, regardless of what the Commission does. Topics include: treatment alternatives and their efficacy at reducing recidivism; BOP crowding and inadequacies; a variety of offender characteristics; recency points; and collateral consequences and "cultural assimilation" departures for non-citizens...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on March 25, 2010 (boomark / email).