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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.
One measure of the impact of the ACCA ruling in Chambers
Posted on January 21, 2009As noted here, last week the Supreme Court held in Chambers that a ?failure to report? for penal confinement is not a ??violent felony?? within the terms of the Armed Career Criminal Act. For one measure of the import of...
Dueling with Spears (aka digesting Spears)
Posted on January 21, 2009I remain surprised and excited that a majority of the Supreme Court thought it appropriate to use, as the Chief put it, "the bitter medicine of summary reversal" in Spears (opinion here) to reiterate for all circuit courts that they...
Lots of criminal justice action from SCOTUS, including a sentencing per curiam
Posted on January 21, 2009With all the executive branch excitement this week, I forgot that the courts are still the place to go for the best criminal justice action. And, to my pleasure and surprise, as reported here and hereat SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court...
Intriguing HLR note on the history of punishment and the Eighth Amendment
Posted on January 21, 2009The latest issue of the journal that our new President once ran includes an intriguing Note titled, "The Eighth Amendment, Proportionality, and the Changing Meaning of 'Punishments'." This Note discusses punishment history, a topic I always find interesting, in service...
A creative musical approach to alternative punishment
Posted on January 21, 2009A kind reader sent along this interesting aternative sentencing story, headlined "He writes the rules that make their eardrums ring." Here is the start of an enjoyable article: The guiding principle in Municipal Judge Paul Sacco's courtroom is an eye...
Is it time now to get serious again about a Booker fix (or even an SRA fix)?
Posted on January 20, 2009In the immediate wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Booker, there was much talk and debate about possible legislative "fixes" to the new sentencing system created by the Booker advisory guideline remedy. As detailed in this post from fall...
The Obama Administration moves forward (on-line) with its "change" agenda for criminal justice
Posted on January 20, 2009A helpful reader suggested I take note of the fact that the criminal justice issues previously identified as part of the Obama-Biden agenda on the old change.gov website (noted here in November 2008 with what are now "dead" links) has...
Is it too early to start demanding President Obama use his clemency power?
Posted on January 20, 2009Barack Obama has been President of the United States for barely an hour, but he has already issued his first official proclamation. Here are some notable snippets: On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over...
Inaugural rhetoric about freedom and liberty in prison nation
Posted on January 20, 2009I am about to sign off to go watch the inauguration activities on television, but I feel obliged to first remind everyone that soaring inaugural rhetoric does not necessarily translate into improved practical realities. And I stress this point with...
"The folly of native sentencing circles"
Posted on January 20, 2009The title of this post is the title of this interesting commentary from Canada's National Post. Here is a provocative excerpt: One often hears sentencing circles spoken of as if they were an ancient feature of aboriginal civilization. In fact,...
Washington legislature considering chip implants for sex offenders
Posted on January 20, 2009Among lots of good new posts at Sex Crimes is a link to this local story reporting on legislative consideration of going one technocorrections step beyond GPS tracking of sex offenders. The piece is headlined "Lawmakers consider implanted chips for...
Split outcome in World Court assessment of US death penalty involving foreign nationals
Posted on January 19, 2009This AP article provides the highlights of a new ruling from the World Court concerning the administration of the death penalty in the US. Here are the details: The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that the United States defied...
Informed perspectives on the closing clemencies of the Bush Administration
Posted on January 19, 2009Former pardon attorney Margaret Colgate Love sent me this little commentary via e-mail to wrap up President Bush's decision to wrap up the exercise of his clemency power with two final commutations to Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose...
Are the Border Agents the only federal offenders for whom President Bush feels compassion?
Posted on January 19, 2009I have soooo many reactions to the commutation of the extreme mandatory sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean (basics here). As regular readers know, I am generally opposed to long mandatory prison terms imposed...
President Bush commutes sentences of Border Agents
Posted on January 19, 2009CNN has the news here, and I hope to have time for comments later today. UPDATE: Here is more press coverage from the New York Times and the AP and Bloomberg. I found this (official?) announcement issued through a press...
Indiana debating prison expansion plans proposed by Governor
Posted on January 19, 2009Another interesting story in prison economy nation is reported in this AP article from Indiana, headlined "Daniels' proposed prison expansions draw doubts." Here are a few details: Faced with tight budgets and prison overcrowding, states across the nation are considering...
Lots of clemency news and notes
Posted on January 18, 2009The coming week ought to be an exciting one for clemency fans, as I think we can and should expect President Bush to do one last batch of clemencies on his way out of office. I heard a rumor that...
Should the value of property stolen drive sentencing outcomes?
Posted on January 18, 2009A new piece I noticed on SSRN indirectly speaks to an issue that arises in the toughest fraud and white-collar cases. The piece, available here, is titled "Community Perceptions of Theft Seriousness: A Challenge to Model Penal Code and English...
Another local account of crack sentence reductions
Posted on January 18, 2009This local story from Alabama provide a southern perspective on the impact and implementation of the new federal crack sentencing guidelines. Here are the details: Alabama federal inmates who have petitioned the courts to reduce their prison sentences on crack...
"Katyal Tapped as Principal Deputy in SG's Office"
Posted on January 18, 2009The BLT Blog has this report on the significant news concerning who will be second banana in the Office of the Solicitor General. Here are the details: Legal Times has confirmed that Georgetown law professor Neal Katyal, who successfully argued...
Death penalty colloquium next month at Tennessee College of Law
Posted on January 17, 2009As detailed on this webpage, the University of Tennessee College of Law has a big death penalty event next month. Here are some particulars via an e-mail I received from one of the organizers: The Tennessee Law Review is hosting...
Did anything truly notable (or worth discussing) happen during the Holder hearings?
Posted on January 17, 2009I was on the road for the last two days and thus had no opportunity to watch or even follow indirectly the Senate hearings for AG-nominee Eric Holder. Based on press reports (collected here by How Appealing), it seems there...
Implementing the new crack guidelines retroactivity in Connecticut
Posted on January 17, 2009The Connecticut Law Tribune has this new article detailing how the new crack guidelines have been implemented in the Nutmeg State. Here are some excerpts: According to statistics compiled by the Federal Public Defenders Office in Connecticut, 154 out of...
A request for a commutation for Weldon Angelos
Posted on January 16, 2009Regular readers will recall the name Weldon Angelos; Angelos was sentenced nearly five years ago to a federal mandatory minimum sentencing term of 55 years in prison following three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales to a paid government informant. I became...
Supreme Court takes up intriguing capital case involving mental retardation
Posted on January 16, 2009As detailed in this SCOTUSblog post, the Supreme Court granted cert on six new cases this afternoon. Though a number of the new cases involve criminal justice issues, the one case most likely to interest sentencing fans involves application of...
Terrific commentary and assessment of the war on drugs
Posted on January 16, 2009The site Culture11 has these three terrific new pieces concerning the war on drugs: War on Drugs: The Collateral Damage by Radley Balko Keep Drugs Illegal! by David Freddoso War on Drugs: The Price Tag by Anita Bartholomew All three...
"Is it possible to feel sympathy in a child porn case?"
Posted on January 16, 2009The title of this post is the title of this interesting commentary piece in the St. Louis Post Dispatch about an older defendant sentenced to 90 month in federal prison because of downloading child porn. Here is a interesting snippet:...
Gov pledges to do "everything" to abolish capital punishment in Maryland
Posted on January 16, 2009As detailed through articles today in the Washington Post and in the Baltimore Sun, Maryland's governor has decided to really commit to getting the death penalty abolished in his state. Here is the start of the Sun article: Gov. Martin...
Interesting SCOTUS discussion of plea agreement breaches in Puckett
Posted on January 15, 2009With so much else going on in the sentencing world these days, I have not given much attention to Puckett v. United States (07-9712), the case before the Supreme Court involving the government breach of a plea agreement regarding arguments...
Fifth Circuit laments, but affirms, another crazy-long mandatory federal sentence
Posted on January 15, 2009The Fifth Circuit today affirms a very long mandatory federal sentence in US v. Sterling, No. 07-30001 (5th Cir. Jan 15, 2009) (available here), but the panel was clearly troubled by what it felt forced by the law to do....
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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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