As we reach a full nine months into the Biden Administration, I must yet again express my frustration that there has not yet been any nominations to the US Sentencing Commission. As I have noted in a number of prior
Continue Reading Should I give up hoping Prez Biden will soon make long needed nominations to US Sentencing Commission?
"Staying Off the Sidelines: Judges as Agents for Justice System Reform"
The title of this post is the title of this notable new Yale Law Journal Forum piece authored by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget McCormack. I recommend the full piece and here is an excerpt from its introduction:
For
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With Every Label Comes Rules, Or Else
I’m not sure that Wesley Yang’s point about why LGBT+ has a plus on the end is correct, that it’s not just a shorthand to include the recent invention of 31 flavors of gender, as opposed to an invitation to
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Still more great <em>Inquest</em> pieces, including a timely commentary on reproductive justice
I continue to hope readers are not tired of all my blogging about Inquest, “a decarceral brainstorm,” because the site continues to publish must-read essays and other great materials that remain so blogworthy. Here are some new great new
Continue Reading Still more great <em>Inquest</em> pieces, including a timely commentary on reproductive justice
Making the case for bringing back parole in Illinois and elsewhere
A few years ago I wrote an essay, titled “Reflecting on Parole’s Abolition in the Federal Sentencing System,” which in part lamented the federal sentencing system’s decision to abolish parole back in 1984. That essay came to mind
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A School Named “Unconstitutional”
It would seem too obvious to mention that different colleges, different majors, are going to attract different students and produce different outcomes. Preston Cooper calculated the Return on Investment for 30,000 bachelor’s degrees. This may thrill you or not, but
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How Is Child Support Determined When Parents Share Placement?
By: Attorney Max Stephenson and Paralegal Courtney Hess
In cases where parents are no longer in a relationship, both parents will be required to support their children financially. While child support is a factor in situations where married parents get divorced
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OFAC Issues Sanctions Guidance to Virtual Currency Industry
On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued “Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Virtual Currency Industry” (the “Guidance”). The Guidance follows recent guidance and advisory letters directed to the
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Oregon Gov uses clemency power to give certain juve offenders opportunity for parole after non-retroactive statutory reform
As reported in this HuffPost piece, “Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) commuted the sentences of dozens of people convicted of crimes they committed as kids on Wednesday, potentially reducing their prison time by hundreds of years and marking major
Continue Reading Oregon Gov uses clemency power to give certain juve offenders opportunity for parole after non-retroactive statutory reform
Plea bargaining in the shadow of a retrial
Attorney Keith Findley and colleagues have a new paper out. They examined cases in the postconviction context to determine how often prosecutors use their plea-bargaining power to preserve a conviction even when the conviction appears deeply flawed and the chances
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