Though the new year is now just two week old, I have seen more than two weeks worth of interesting reads that I have not had a chance to blog about. I did a round up last Sunday here,
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Supreme Court takes up procedural issues around challenging execution methods and habeas matters
Via this order list, the US Supreme Court this afternoon granted certiorari in five new cases, two of which involve criminal procedure. This SCOTUSblog post reviews the high-profile religion case of the bunch and provides this very brief account…
Illinois judge decides to acquit teen in sexual assault case to avoid four-year mandatory minimum term
The New York Times has this interesting new article about a troubling example of how mandatory minimum sentences can (and often do) end up distorting the operation of our justices systems. The full headline of the article provides the essentials:…
"Compassionate Release and Decarceration in the States"
The title of this post is the title of this notable new paper authored by Renagh O’Leary now on SSRN. Here is its abstract:
Though the U.S. prison population has declined slightly over the last decade, progress toward decarceration has…
Can anyone estimate how many (thousands of) federal prison years have been based on acquitted conduct sentencing?
The question in the title of this post came to mind when I saw just the latest example of a federal circuit court upholding a lengthy federal sentence based in part on acquitted conduct. This latest example was handed down…
California Gov Newsom reverse parole grant to Sirhan Sirhan, RFK's assassin
Under California law, the Governor reviews any recommendation of parole by a convicted murderer. As explained in this new Los Angeles Tomes op-ed, California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided to reverse a parole decision in the high-profile case of…
"A Call to Reform Federal Solitary Confinement"
The title of this post is the title of this effective new report authored by Ilanit Turner and Noelle Collins with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Here is part of its executive summary (with cited removed):
Federal solitary confinement is…
Thousands of federal prisoners finally to get FIRST STEP Act credits as DOJ implements earned time rules
As reported in this new AP article, headlined “Thousands of federal inmates to be released under 2018 law,” this weeks brings some big FIRST STEP Act implementation news, just over three years since President Trump signed the landmark sentencing…
US Sentencing Commission issues new report on "Recidivism of Federal Drug Trafficking Offenders Released in 2010"
The US Sentencing Commission today published some more findings from its big eight-year recidivism study of federal offenders released from prison in 2010. This new 144-page report is titled “Recidivism of Federal Drug Trafficking Offenders Released in 2010,” and this…
Split New Jersey Supreme Court rules NJ constitution requires allowing juvenile offenders "to petition for a review of their sentence after they have served two decades in prison"
A helpful reader ensured I did not miss the fascinating New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in NJ v. Comer, A-42-20)(NJ Jan 10, 2022) (available here), regarding limits on extreme juvenile sentencing. The start of the opinion for the…