
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense
Find a Local Lawyer
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402
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.
"Obama should commute the sentences of many people serving egregiously long sentences for crack cocaine offenses"
Posted on December 22, 2010The quote in the title of this post is a line from this CNN commentary by Kemba Smith Pradia, which is headlined "My life saved by reprieve of 24-year sentence for crack." Here is how it begins: Ten years ago,...
Lots of litigation around California sex offender residency restrictions
Posted on December 22, 2010This local California article, which is headlined "Court challenges mount against sex offender law," effectively reports on the copious litigation surrounding the state's sex offender residency restrictions. Here are some details: Hundreds of paroled sex offenders are winning reprieves from...
Split Missouri Supreme Court upholds LWOP adult sentence for 15-year-old cop killer
Posted on December 21, 2010The Missouri Supreme Court today in a split 4-3 ruling upheld against various challenges an LWOP sentence for a 15-year-old murderer in Missouri v. Andrews, No. SC91006 (Mo. Dec. 21, 2010) (available here). Here is how the majority opinion gets...
NJ Governor Christie commutes controversial gun possession sentence
Posted on December 21, 2010A helpful reader alerted me to a notable clemency development from the Garden State, which is reported in this Fox News piece. Here are the basic from the start of the news report: A man given seven years in prison...
Lengthy discussion of modern sentencing challenges by split Second Circuit
Posted on December 21, 2010The Second Circuit has an extended discussion of a variety of sentencing issues today in US v. Preacely, No. 09-2580 (2d Cir. Dec. 21, 2010) (available here). Providing a sign of the modern federal sentencing times, all three judges on...
DPIC releases year-end death penalty report for 2010
Posted on December 21, 2010As is its tradition every December, the Death Penalty Information Center has now released its annual year-end report on death penalty developments in 2010. This DPIC report, which has in bold on its first page the claim that "As Use...
Newest BJS data on correctional population shows historic first decline
Posted on December 21, 2010Perhaps finally providing that what goes up must eventually come down even in incarceration nation, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today via this press release "the first measured decline in the total number of adults under correctional supervision [in...
"An outlet, an outlet ... my kingdom for an outlet for my GPS monitor!"
Posted on December 21, 2010The silly riff on a famously sad Shakespeare quote was inspired by this ruling today from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The case, as the court explains, brings "more fully into view a tension between mandatory GPS monitoring of...
WSJ notes dispute over application of FSA to pending cases
Posted on December 21, 2010The Wall Street Journal has this new piece noting the on-going legal battles over applying the new crack law to federal cases in the sentencing pipeline. The piece is headlined "Crack Sentences Still Tough: Hard Time Given Even for Small...
More great news on crime rates from the FBI
Posted on December 20, 2010Thanks to The Crime Report, I just saw this exciting new press release from the FBI, which is titled "The Latest Stats Show a Continuing Decline in Crime." Here are specifics: We?ve just released our first peek into crime in...
"Think outside the prison walls"
Posted on December 20, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this Indianapolis Star editorial endorsing proposals to restructure Indiana's sentencing system. Here are excerpts: Gov. Mitch Daniels' endorsement of proposed corrections reforms should add needed momentum to legislative action that is...
Incoming California AG plans to shake up state's approach to crime and punishment
Posted on December 20, 2010Yesterday's Los Angeles Times had this notable piece about California's new Attorney General-elect, which is headlined "The time may be right for Kamala Harris; She hopes the tough economy, shifting public opinion and her savvy transition team will bolster her...
New law review article on post-Booker disparity makes headlines in Boston
Posted on December 20, 2010This morning's Boston Globe has this effective new article reporting on this important new academic research just published in the Stanford Law Review about post-Booker sentencing realities in the District of Massachusetts. The Globe article is headlined "Disparity cited in...
"Search for guidelines on death penalty cases continues to consume justices' time"
Posted on December 20, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this new article in today's Washington Post. Here are some excerpts: When the Supreme Court hands down a list of the (few) cases it has picked for its docket and the...
Any thoughts or insights about how Obama's lower court judges are doing on sentencing issues?
Posted on December 20, 2010The question in the title of this post is prompted in part by this new AP piece, which is headlined "Quiet deal on Obama's judge nominees in the Senate." Here are the basics from the article: After a months-long blockade,...
Thorough and thoughtful pitch for sentencing reforms in Arizona
Posted on December 20, 2010As detailed in this op-ed and in this press release, Professor Carissa Byrne Hessick at Arizona State University is making a thorough and thoughtful pitch for sentencing reforms in Arizona. Here is part of Hessick's op-ed: As part of the...
Notable new perspective on reasonableness review after Booker
Posted on December 19, 2010I have long thought that appellate review was a weakest link in the Booker remedy, both jurisprudentially and practically. Thus, this new piece on SSRN by Briana Rosenbaum really caught my eye. The piece is titled "Righting the Historical Record:...
Federal education stimulus dollars covering prison costs in Alabama
Posted on December 19, 2010As detailed in this local article, which is headlined "Prisons the biggest recipient of Alabama's education stimulus dollars," a big chunk of federal dollars earmarked for education has been going to prison spending in Alabama. Here are the details: Alabama?s...
"Innocence Unmodified"
Posted on December 18, 2010The title of this post is the title of this new scholarship from Emily Hughes available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Innocence Movement has unwittingly participated in the construction of a binary between ?actual? and ?legal? innocence. Because...
Kentucky judge rejects death sentence for child killer claiming life term will be a "hell more suited to you"
Posted on December 17, 2010A helpful reader alerted me to this remarkable new sentencing story from Kentucky in which a sentence judge rejected the prosecutor's death sentence request for a child killer claiming that such a sentence would be too easy for the defendant....
"Festivus for the rest of us, O.C. Jail style"
Posted on December 17, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this awesome holiday-season article from the Orange County Register about how a inmate managed to talk his way into a healthier meal for his jail stay. Here are the details: Festivus...
Iowa Supreme Court deals with Graham's prohibition of juve LWOP for nonhomicide
Posted on December 17, 2010A helpful reader altered me to a decision today by the Iowa Supreme Court dealing with a juvenile LWOP sentence that is now clearly unconstitutional in the wake of the Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment ruling in Graham v. Florida. The...
A mere six-month jail sentence for 19th drunk driving conviction?!?!?
Posted on December 17, 2010As detailed in this local article, which is headlined "19th DUI gets Santa Rosa man 6-month sentence," an inclination to treat drunk drivers leniently can continue even well after a defendant has more than a dozen convictions for this dangerous...
Lots worth reading at Pardon Power during this clemency season
Posted on December 17, 2010P.S. Ruckman's blog Pardon Power is always worth regular reading, and this week he has a series of new posts that should not be missed as we kick into the final weeks of what has become a traditional clemency season:...
"The Worst of the Worst: Supermax Torture in America"
Posted on December 17, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this new piece from the Boston Review authored by investigative journalist Lance Tapley. The piece provides an important and disturbing view of supermax confinement in the United States. Here are excerpts...
"GAO: Registered sex offenders finding jobs in schools"
Posted on December 16, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this new article from USA Today, which gets started this way: Registered sex offenders are getting jobs in schools as teachers, administrators, volunteers and contractors, despite state laws that prohibit them...
Top UK official calling for total drug legalization
Posted on December 16, 2010As detailed in this article from across the pond, which is headlined, "Legalise all drugs, says former Labour Home Office minister," there is a former UK official once deeply involved in the war on drugs now urging a complete surrender....
Why the orphaned sentencing argument in Tapia needs a good guardian
Posted on December 16, 2010Adam Liptak's Sidebar column this week in the New York Times, which is headlined "Court Chooses Guardians for Orphaned Arguments," is all about the SCOTUS practice of appointing counsel to represent arguments/opinions that have been abandoned by the parties...
"Hyper-Incarceration and Strategies of Disruption: Is There a Way Out?"
Posted on December 16, 2010The title of this post is the headline of this new article by Louis Michael Seidman now available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper explores exit strategies from our policy of hyper-incarceration. On the theory that the underlying...
Oklahoma poised to complete last execution of 2010 with new drug in three-drug protocol
Posted on December 16, 2010As reported in this new piece on CNN, it appears that Oklahoma is about to close out the year in execution by ringing in a new drug for its lethal injection protocol. Here are the basics: An Oklahoma death row...
Previous | Next
Japan's International Child Abduction Policy
By Kirsten Brown (AXcess News) Washington - Four fathers quietly f...
Eminent domain, demographics and immigration policy
On the face of it, you may be wondering what eminent domain,...
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...

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...








