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Will a commitment to "transparency and the rule of law" extend to DOJ in the new administration?

By Douglas A. Berman

This report from CNN about commitments and comments made by President Obama has me very excited about possible reforms of the federal criminal justice system. Here is the start of the article that has me to excited: Promising "a new era of openness in our country," President Barack Obama signed executive orders Wednesday relating to ethics guidelines for staff members of his administration.  "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said. As regular readers know well, "openness" and "transparency and the rule of law" have never been the hallmark of the Justice Department when it comes to prosecutorial data and sentencing policies.   I have long suspected that DOJ has lots of important internal data about its disretionary charging and bargaining and sentencing advocacy practices...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 21, 2009 (boomark / email).