Sentencing Law and Policy

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“People Serving Life Exceeds Entire Prison Population of 1970”

February 20, 2020

The title of this post is the title of this new fact sheet released by The Sentencing Project’s Campaign to End Life Imprisonment. Here is how the document (which is full of interesting images) get started: As states come to terms with the consequences of 40 years of prison expansion, sentencing reform efforts across the country have focused on reducing stays in prison or jail for those convicted of nonviolent drug and property crimes. At…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Roger Stone gets 40-month federal prison sentence … but will he ever actually serve it?

By Douglas Berman

February 20, 2020

As reported in this Politico piece, headlined “Roger Stone was sentenced Thursday to just more than three years in prison, a decision that raises immediate questions about whether President Donald Trump will pardon his longtime political confidant for what the president has decried as a miscarriage of justice.”…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Lots of notable clemency news and notes and commentaries after Prez Trump’s flourish of mercy

By Douglas Berman

February 20, 2020

Unsurprisingly, a number of reporters and commentators have lots to report and comment upon in the wake of Trump’s latest clemency work (basics noted here and here and here). Here are just a few pieces that seem like must reads in full (with a taste to whet appetites): From the Washintong Post, “White House assembles team of advisers to guide clemency process as Trump considers more pardons“: The White House is moving to…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Noting that condemned Tennessee inmates are opting for electrocution over lethal injection

By Douglas Berman

February 20, 2020

This New York Times piece, headlined “Afraid of Lethal Injection, Inmates Are Choosing the Electric Chair,” reviews execution trends nationwide just before Tennessee is scheduled to conduct another state killing through the use of the electric chair. Here are excerpts: Nicholas Sutton, like other death row inmates in Tennessee, has a choice in how the state will end his life. The default, as set by state law, would be a series of injections, one…

Sentencing Law and Policy

“From Decarceration to E-Carceration”

By Douglas Berman

February 20, 2020

I am sorry to have missed this article by Chaz Arnett with the title used for the title of this post when it was first posted to SSRN some months ago, but I am glad to have seen it as recently revised. Here is its abstract: Each year, millions of Americans experience criminal justice surveillance through electronic ankle monitors. These devices have fundamentally altered our understanding of incarceration, punishment, and the extent of the carceral…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Roger Stone case generating some useful reflections on federal sentencing challenges and problems and lessons

By Douglas Berman

February 19, 2020

gavel and soundblock of justice law and lawyer working on wooden desk background.

Roger Stone is scheduled to be sentencing on Thursday and this Bloomberg piece provides a bit of the lay of the land starting this way: Roger Stone’s sentencing on Thursday is shaping up as a test of judicial independence after President Donald Trump inserted himself in the court’s deliberations over the fate of his longtime confidant. If U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentences Stone in line with the Justice Department’s new and lower recommendation,…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Recognizing historic modern first-term commutation work by Prez Trump in a single day

By Douglas Berman

February 19, 2020

Unsurprisingly, the pardons and commutations handed out by President Trump yesterday to high-profile individuals like Michael Milken, Rod Blagojevich, Bernie Kerik and Eddie DeBartolo have been dominating the news coverage of Trump’s latest clemency work (basics noted here and here). But I wanted to take a moment to note (and, in a sense, lament) that Prez Trump’s granting of four commutations yesterday — to Tynice Nichole Hall, Crystal Munoz and Judith Negron along with Blagojevich…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Another thoughtful and thorough opinion finds statutory sentence reform among “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for reducing sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)

By Douglas Berman

February 19, 2020

As regular readers know, in lots of prior posts I have made much of a key provision of the FIRST STEP Act which now allows federal courts to directly reduce sentences under the (so-called compassionate release) statutory provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) without awaiting a motion by the Bureau of Prisons. I consider this provision a big deal because I think, if applied appropriately and robustly, it could and should enable many hundreds (and…

Sentencing Law and Policy

“The Expansive Reach of Pretrial Detention”

By Douglas Berman

February 19, 2020

The title of this post is the title of this timely new paper authored by Paul Heaton now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: Today we know much more about the effects of pretrial detention than we did even five years ago. Multiple empirical studies have emerged that shed new light on the far-reaching impacts of bail decisions made at the earliest stages of the criminal adjudication process. The takeaway from this new generation…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, on eve of his first Prez debate, releases full criminal justice reform plan

By Douglas Berman

February 19, 2020

In this post from December, I noted this page on the campaign website of Mike Bloomberg that reported on “three criminal justice reform policy proposals” then announced by the then-new Democratic presidential candidate. Unsurprisingly, that partial plan has not deflected criticisms of Bloomberg’s record and past comments on criminal justice matters. And, also unsurprisingly, Bloomberg has now announced more of a criminal justice platform via this piece headlined “Mike Bloomberg Expands Criminal Justice Reform Plan…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Blog Authors

“People Serving Life Exceeds Entire Prison Population of 1970”

Roger Stone gets 40-month federal prison sentence … but will he ever actually serve it?

Lots of notable clemency news and notes and commentaries after Prez Trump’s flourish of mercy

Noting that condemned Tennessee inmates are opting for electrocution over lethal injection

“From Decarceration to E-Carceration”

Roger Stone case generating some useful reflections on federal sentencing challenges and problems and lessons

Recognizing historic modern first-term commutation work by Prez Trump in a single day

Another thoughtful and thorough opinion finds statutory sentence reform among “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for reducing sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)

“The Expansive Reach of Pretrial Detention”

Former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, on eve of his first Prez debate, releases full criminal justice reform plan

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