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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.
Execution news and notes
Posted on June 10, 2008Some of my favorite blogs are providing great coverage of significant death penalty news from two significant death penalty states: From Grits for Breakfast, "A door to a brick wall": CCA approves Texas lethal injection protocols without a hearing From...
YouTube sentencing for digital generation
Posted on June 09, 2008Thanks to a friendly reader, I saw this notable USA Today article reporting on a creative sentencing for generation next: A judge here is using YouTube to punish two boys who used the video-sharing website for a prank that ended...
FBI reports that violent and property crime was down in 2007
Posted on June 09, 2008Good news on the crime front, as detailed in pieces from the AP and Reuters and ABC News: according to FBI data, violent and property crime trended down in 2007 . Here are the basics from the Reuters story: U.S....
Supreme Court acting very civil today
Posted on June 09, 2008As detailed over at SCOTUSblog and How Appealing, the Supreme Court issued four opinions and granted cert in two new cases, none of which involved significant criminal matters (and none involved 5-4 splits). Thus, the wait continues for highly anticipated...
Signs of the sentencing times
Posted on June 09, 2008These two notable commentaries from local papers today reinforce my belief (or should I say, my hope) that tough-on-crime rhetoric is getting tired and will be replaced by smart-on-crime realities: From the Philadelphia Inquirer here, "A messed-up justice system" From...
Soft-on-crime Prez mud-slinging gets off to a telling start
Posted on June 08, 2008And so it begins. This effective Los Angeles Times article, headlined "Opening shot in the battle over crime," reports that the man behind the (in)famous Willie Horton ad is going back to the soft-on-crime playbook two decades later. Here are...
Kentucky struggling with growing incarceration costs
Posted on June 08, 2008This new AP story, headlined Ky. officials looking to reduce state prison burden," details Kentucky's continuing struggle with even expanding incarceration costs. Here are a few excerpts: With Kentucky's prison population skyrocketing, and only expected to get larger, Gov...
Will Our Courts game include sentencing (and have a Wii version)?
Posted on June 07, 2008As detailed in this Reuters article, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court has now "unveiled a videogame project ... to teach children how courts work, saying she wanted to counter partisan criticism that judges are 'godless'...
A terror-filled debate over substantive reasonableness
Posted on June 07, 2008As detailed at How Appealing and in this AP article headlined "Court orders new sentence for al-Qaida member," the Fourth Circuit on late Friday afternoon "rejected a 30-year prison term and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Ahmed Omar Abu...
South Carolina conducts uneventful execution
Posted on June 07, 2008As detailed in this brief AP story, "South Carolina man convicted of killing three social workers more than a decade ago has been executed after he asked to drop his appeals. David Mark Hill was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m....
A notable approach to drug sentencing in Argentina
Posted on June 07, 2008It appears that reefer madness may be taking over in Argentina, according to this article in today's Washington Post. The piece is headlined "In Argentine Drug Courts, A Shocker at Sentencing," and here are excerpts: After getting caught with contraband...
Could asking judge to officiate defendant's wedding be a sneaky sentencing ploy?
Posted on June 06, 2008I have reported before on cases in which a defendant has gotten married at the same time he is sentenced (see here and here), but this new article from the Washington Post puts a new spin on this kind of...
Hoping for a presidential town hall on crime and punishment
Posted on June 06, 2008I view John McCain's proposed weekly town hall debates as a fantastic idea, and one that ought to help ensure that some crime and punishment issues get discussed during the campaign. Indeed, I am hoping that somehow one of the...
New Judge Gertner opinion asserts extended prison term would reduce public safety
Posted on June 06, 2008It is fitting to follow news of a new record high US incarceration population with an interesting new opinion from federal District Judge Nancy Gertner, which contends that an extended prison term may reduce public safety in some cases. These...
New "official" record high in US incarceration population
Posted on June 06, 2008As detailed in this ABC News report, prison nation continues to grow: "The Justice Department has released a new report showing the nation's prison and jail population reached a record 2.3 million people last year." As regular readers know, the...
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines are dead, long live the federal sentencing guidelines!
Posted on June 05, 2008I just received these medical notices from the Sentencing Inquirer (a little-known, long-dormant publication from the Kane estate): OBITUARY: After an extended illness, the rigid Federal Sentencing Guidelines were taken off life-support on June 4, 2008 by the First Circuit...
Alleged 9/11 mastermind requests the death penalty in GTMO arraignment
Posted on June 05, 2008As detailed in this Reuters story, the "accused al Qaeda mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks stood in a U.S. military court on Thursday, sang a chant of praise to Allah and said he would welcome the death penalty." Here...
Fifth Circuit opinion affirming probation sentence shows Gall's impact
Posted on June 05, 2008The Fifth Circuit's opinion in US v. Rowan, No. 05-30536 (5th Cir. June 4, 2008) (available here), though very brief, shows the impact of Gall on how circuits are doing reasonableness review of federal sentences. Here is an effective report...
Georgia conducts its second post-Baze lethal injection (with a hiccup)
Posted on June 05, 2008As detailed in this AP report, a "man who claimed his attorney was a racist who put up a flimsy defense was executed Wednesday for murdering two people, Georgia's second execution within a month." Here are more details: Curtis Osborne,...
Shortest probation term ever?
Posted on June 05, 2008This AP story, which is interesting for various reasons, may set a record for the shortest probation term ever served. Here are the particulars: At one point this year, Patricia Vincent faced up to 20 years in prison for hiring...
Two CNN stories highlight varieties of sex offenders
Posted on June 04, 2008Though neither of these new stories now up on CNN are specifically about sentencing, they both spotlight the critical (and widely underappreciated) reality that the label sex offender can cover a wide array of unexpected characters: Naked photos, e-mail get...
interesting piece on sentencing history (and theory)
Posted on June 04, 2008After spending the day dealing with some frustrating realities of current federal sentencing, this historical paper appearing on SSRN is just the kind of change of pace my sentencing brain needs. The piece is titled "Rehabilitating Durkheim: Social Solidarity and...
The friendly themes to be stressed in Sixth Circuit acquitted conduct case
Posted on June 04, 2008As noted here, I am off to the Sixth Circuit to present an amicus perspective on acquitted conduct enhancements. (As previously detailed here, late last year the Sixth Circuit ordered en banc review in US v. White, and this afternoon...
Reflections on reflections on emotions and the death penalty
Posted on June 04, 2008As detailed in this post, Stephanos Bibas and I have a new commentary (now available here at SSRN) titled "Engaging Capital Emotions." In addition to comments here from usual SL&P suspects, Corey Yung at Sex Crimes provides these intriguing (and...
A telling example of a victim prompting a lighter sentence
Posted on June 04, 2008I have often asserted that allowing victims to have a say at sentencing might sometimes prompt a more away from harsh imprisonment terms. And this story from Tennessee showcases this reality: A man guilty of vehicular homicide will not spend...
New crack guidelines means Willie Mays Aikens gets to go home
Posted on June 04, 2008As detailed in this article from the Kansas City Star, "former Royals standout Willie Mays Aikens is scheduled to be released from federal prison today, and he could be at a Kansas City halfway house as early as this evening."...
Victim input and restorative justice in sentencing Down Under
Posted on June 04, 2008This new story from Australia, headlined "Victims to get say in sentencing," reports on an interest program being implemented in a country which has a long history with sentencing. Here are the details: New South Wales Attorney-General John Hatzistergos says...
Texas not yet able to get back in execution business
Posted on June 04, 2008As detailed in this Houston Chronicle article, headlined "Killer's execution delayed; Texas lethal injection was to resume, but Harris County inmate gets new stay," Texas executions are still being stalled by lethal injection concerns. Here are the basics: Condemned double-murderer...
First Circuit blesses a variance based on fast-track disparity
Posted on June 04, 2008Thanks to this post at AL&P, I see that while I was hanging with the Sixth Circuit today, the First Circuit issued a very significant post-Gall/Kimbrough decision in US v. Rodriguez, No. 06-2656 (1st Cir. June 4, 2008) (available here)....
Must-reads (again) on the post-Booker world in Yale Law Journal
Posted on June 03, 2008Though I have blogged about both these great pieces when they first appeared on SSRN, a helpful reader pointed out the fact that the May 2008 issue of the Yale Law Journal is now online here with the final published...
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He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
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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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