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Law Professor Blogs, LLC is the nation's only network of legal blogs edited primarily by law professors. Law Professor Blogs, LLC’s legal blogs are edited by over 100 law professors, deans, and lawyers. Editors include leading scholars and educators who are committed to providing the web source of legal news, information, commentary, and analysis for law professors, practitioners, government and nonprofit lawyers, and students in their respective fields. Most of the network’s blogs are owned by Law Professor Blogs, LLC. Several blogs are affiliates of the network.

Federal government completes its seventh (and final?) execution in 2020

By Douglas Berman

September 25, 2020

The federal government this evening completed is seventh execution in the span of just over two months. This AP article, headlined “Feds put first Black inmate to death since execution restart,” provides these details: A man who killed a religious couple visiting Texas from Iowa was executed Thursday, the first Black inmate put to death as part of the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions. Christopher Vialva, 40, was pronounced dead shortly before 7…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Call for Papers: "Understanding Drug Sentencing and its Contributions to Mass Punishment"

By Douglas Berman

September 24, 2020

I am pleased to highlight a new call for papers relating to an exciting event I am excited to be involved in helping to plan, “Understanding Drug Sentencing and its Contributions to Mass Punishment.” Here is the full call, which is also available as a full pdf document at this link: INTRODUCTIONDiscussion of the “war on drugs” frequently fails to examine precisely how drug offenders are sentenced — and how they should…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Interesting accounting of Facebook spending and advertising by presidential campaigns

By Douglas Berman

September 23, 2020

The Marshall Project has this fascinating lengthy new piece on criminal justice advertising by the presidential candidates during the 2020 election cycle so far. The full headline of the piece, which highlights its themes, is “Trump’s Crime and Carnage Ad Blitz Is Going Unanswered on Facebook: The president has spent millions on misleading Facebook ads targeting undecided voters, while Joe Biden has been virtually silent.” I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts:…

Sentencing Law and Policy

"The Unified Theory of Punishment"

By Douglas Berman

September 23, 2020

The title of this post is the title of this new revised book chapter authored by Thom Brooks now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: Most of the history of the philosophy of punishment is about our making choice of which theory to support and defend against all the rest. Over time, there have been several attempts aiming to bring two or more theories together in new hybrid formulations. This penal pluralism can be…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Another accounting of Justice Ginsburg's criminal justice legacy

By Douglas Berman

September 22, 2020

I receive via email from Arizona State College of Law’s Academy for Justice a terrific review (with links) of some of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg major work in criminal justice cases during her tenure on the Court, as well as some leading scholarship discussing this work. I got permission to reprint this collection here, so: Some of Justice Ginsburg’s Criminal Justice Opinions: Timbs v. Indiana, 586 U.S. ___ (2019) (Excessive Fines Clause) Perry v. New …

Sentencing Law and Policy

Federal government completes its sixth execution in 2020

By Douglas Berman

September 22, 2020

Prior to 2020, the federal government executed only three persons in over half a century. But thanks largely to the efforts and persistence of US Attorney General William Barr, the feds as of tonight have been able to complete double that many executions in just the year 2020. This AP story about the latest execution, headlined “US government executes killer obsessed with witchcraft,” includes these details: The U.S. government on Tuesday executed a former soldier…

Sentencing Law and Policy

"Virtual Reality: Prospective Catalyst for Restorative Justice"

By Douglas Berman

September 22, 2020

The title of this post is the title of this new article now on SSRN authored by Kate Bloch. Here is its abstract: A 2018 U.S. Department of Justice report assessing data from 30 states found that 83% of individuals released from state prisons in 2005 were rearrested within nine years. When a revolving door ushers five of six individuals back into custody and decimates communities, more effective approaches to criminal justice demand attention. In…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Pending federal executions to be first SCOTUS matters to be resolved without the late Justice Ginsburg

By Douglas Berman

September 22, 2020

As reported in this CBS News piece, a “former U.S. soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to slay a Georgia nurse in a bid to lift a spell he believed she put on him is the first of two more inmates the federal government is preparing to put to death this week.” Here is more about this and another federal execution scheduled for the coming days: William Emmett LeCroy, 50, on…

Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform

Is South Dakota soon to become the first deep-red mainland state to fully legalize marijuana?

By Douglas A. Berman

September 22, 2020

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new Marijuana Moment piece headlined “South Dakota Voters Support Medical And Recreational Marijuana Initiatives, New Opposition Poll Finds.” Here are excerpts: A majority of South Dakota voters support separate initiatives to allow both medical and recreational marijuana that……

Sentencing Law and Policy

Big new NPR investigation showing pulmonary edema in executed inmates suggests a painful process

By Douglas Berman

September 21, 2020

NPR has this interesting and extended new piece about the medical realities of modern executions under the headline “Gasping For Air: Autopsies Reveal Troubling Effects Of Lethal Injection.” The who piece should be reviewed in full for anyone who follows closely the debates over execution methods, and I am pleased to see that the piece discusses the ground-breaking litigation that has been pioneered by Allen Bohnert, a federal public defender who represents Ohio inmates with…

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Federal government completes its seventh (and final?) execution in 2020

Call for Papers: "Understanding Drug Sentencing and its Contributions to Mass Punishment"

Interesting accounting of Facebook spending and advertising by presidential campaigns

"The Unified Theory of Punishment"

Another accounting of Justice Ginsburg's criminal justice legacy

Federal government completes its sixth execution in 2020

"Virtual Reality: Prospective Catalyst for Restorative Justice"

Pending federal executions to be first SCOTUS matters to be resolved without the late Justice Ginsburg

Is South Dakota soon to become the first deep-red mainland state to fully legalize marijuana?

Big new NPR investigation showing pulmonary edema in executed inmates suggests a painful process

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