Georgia’s administration of capital punishment has long had a unique place in the history of the death penalty in the United States. But, as detailed in this local article, one unique aspect of its modern death penalty process changed
Sentencing Law and Policy
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Lots of new data from the US Sentencing Commission on many fronts
As it does so well, US Sentencing Commission is continuing to release all sort of notable data on all sorts of issues in the federal sentencing world. For example, the Commission has released these new “Quick Facts” documents:
- NEW Career
…
Supreme Court unanimously reiterates "totality of the circumstances" approach to Fourth Amendment
The Supreme Court this morning handed down a short opinion in Barnes v. Felix, No. 23–1239 (S. Ct. May 15, 2025) (available here). The unanimous ruling, authored by Justice Kagan for the Court, breaks no new ground, but…
Notable reporting on the new "wild west" of clemency in Prez Trump's second term
In this post around Thanksgiving last year at the Sentencing Matters Substack, I made the case for chief executives to make more and more regular use of their clemency powers. And I had this musing in that commentary: “I…
Menendez brothers resentenced by California judge to 50 years to life, making them parole eligible
As reported in this Los Angeles Times article, “Erik and Lyle Menendez received a chance at freedom Tuesday after more than 35 years in prison, with an L.A. County judge granting a request to resentence them after hours of…
The latest (and still limited) discussions of the great crime decline circa 2025
"Confronting Uncharged Conduct"
The title of this post is the title of this new article available via SSRN and authored by Barnett Harris and Christopher Merken. Here is its abstract:
Every year, federal judges sentence tens of thousands of criminal defendants to carceral…
Latest data on death rows in US (at roughly start of second Trump Administration)
Via this post by Robert Dunham at The DP3 Substack, I see that the Legal Defense Fund has released its latest accounting of persons on death rows in the US, Death Row USA, Spring 2025. The LDF document, which…
"The Nuances of Prosecutorial Nonenforcement"
The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by Carissa Byrne Hessick and Meighan Parsh now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:
The academic literature on prosecutors is divided: Some commentors believe that prosecutors…
Could Prez Trump's new EO on overcriminalization prompt the US Sentencing Commission to review strict liability guideline enhancements?
As flagged in this post, just a couple of days before he left the Oval Office back in 2021, Prez Trump issued an exective order titled “Executive Order on Protecting Americans From Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform.” I am pretty…