As some readers may know, the blogging service Typepad is complete shutting down as of September 30, 2025. When I first started this blog back in May 2004(!), Typepad seemed like a good-enough, user-friendly platform, and before long I had the
Sentencing Law and Policy
The Sentencing Law and Policy blog, published by the Law Professor Blogs Network, focuses on issues related to criminal sentencing in the United States. It covers federal and state sentencing data, trends in incarceration rates, and the impact of policy changes on sentencing outcomes. The blog discusses topics such as immigration-related sentencing, drug offenses, death penalty cases, and white collar crime. It also highlights legal debates around optimal incarceration levels, constitutional challenges, and reform efforts. The blog serves as a resource for legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers interested in sentencing law, criminal justice policy, and related legislative developments.
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Latest from Sentencing Law and Policy
"The myth of the optimal level of incarceration"
The title of this post is the title of this notable essay authored by Shawn Bushway. I recommend the full piece, and here is how it gets started:
The U.S. now incarcerates 25 percent fewer people than it did at…
US Sentencing Commission FY 2025 third quarter federal sentencing data shows growth in immigration cases
I just saw that yesterday the US Sentencing Commission released here its latest federal sentencing quarterly data report which is titled “3rd Quarter Release, Preliminary Fiscal Year 2025 Data Through June 30, 2025.” Because these data only capture a little…
Florida completes its twelfth execution in 2025 of murderer of three people 35 years ago
As reported in this AP piece, a “Florida man convicted of killing his estranged wife’s sister and parents and setting their house on fire was put to death Wednesday evening in what was a record 12th execution in the…
Highlighting the work (and upcoming conference) of the White Collar Support Group
I have been invited to speak in a few weeks on pardon and expungement topics at the “White Collar Conference 2025,” which is presented by the White Collar Support Group run by the indefatigable Jeff Grant. Here are links and…
"From Sickness to Cure: Obeying 28 U.S.C. § 994(g)'s Mandates as a Remedy to Bureau of Prison Overpopulation"
The title of this post is the title of this new article now on SSRN authored by Max Wolson, Benjamin Flick and Adeel Bashir. Here is its abstract:
This article explains how the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s excessively punitive, weight-based drug…
NACDL releases "Empty Pockets and Empty Promises: How Federal Restitution Law Fails Everyone"
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) today released this lengthy new report written by LawProf Cortney Lollar. Here is the report’s executive summary:
Criminal restitution has become a regular part of sentencing in criminal cases. And yet it…
Effective review of some state echoes of Eighth Amendment limits on extreme juve sentences
This new Law360 article, headlined “Appeals Courts Rethink Harsh Youth Sentences, Search Rules,” details some of the ways state courts have been extending the US Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence precluding some extreme juvenile sentence. Here are excerpts from…
Exploring some reasons for the uptick in US execitions in 2025
The Marshall Project has this notable new piece exploring some reasons for the higher number of executions throughout the US in 2025. I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts (with links from the original):
Ten states have…
Nadine Menendez, wife of convicted former US Senator Bob Menendez, sentenced to 54 months in federal prison
As reported in this New York Times article, “Nadine Menendez, the wife of New Jersey’s former senator, was sentenced on Thursday to four and a half years in prison for her role in a scheme to trade her husband’s…