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Judge Easterbrook on barbarity and the sunnum bonum of federal sentencing

By Douglas A. Berman

A Seventh Circuit panel opinion authored by Judge Easterbrook in US v. Bartlett, No. 08-1196 (7th Cir. June 8, 2009) (available here), is this week's first must-read for sentencing fans. The ruling, which covers lots of issues, gets off to this poetic start: The distance between civilization and barbarity, and the time needed to pass from one state to the other, is depressingly short.  Police officers in Milwaukee proved this the morning of October 24, 2004. The opinion also includes a number of other profound observations, ranging from "Thrusting a pen into a person?s ear canals is torture by any definition." to "The old regime of 'departures' is defunct."  And, as this latter sentence highlights, the Bartlett opinion is full of notable sentencing talk...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 08, 2009 (boomark / email).