Sentencing Law and Policy
Features news, issues, commentary and provides resources related to sentencing law and policy.
Author: Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at The Ohio State University, founded Sentencing Law and Policy. He also one of the primary editors of Law School Innovation and maintains and frequently updates The Golf Blog. He is the co-author of a casebook, Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines and is a managing editor of both the Federal Sentencing Reporter and the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. He also sometimes serves as a consultant to lawyers working on important or interesting sentencing cases.
Blawg Related Categories: Criminal Justice • Sentencing/Post Conviction • Law Professors • The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law • Law Professor • Blawg 100
Recent Posts from Sentencing Law and Policy
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Trying out the Droid
I got a new toy today: the new Droid phone. And this post is a test of Droid-blogging.
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Amicus filing in SCOTUS habeas cases creating controversy among death penalty crowd
This story from the Boston Globe, which is headlined "Death penalty foes rip Coakley for signing brief," highlights that the politics of the death penalty in Massachusetts in quite different than in other parts of…
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Fourth Circuit affirms reliance on uncharged conduct in sex offender sentencing
The Fourth Circuit today in US v. Grubbs, No. 07-5040 (4th Cir. Nov. 6, 2009) (available here), considers and rejects a number of procedural challenges to a federal sex offense sentence. Here is how the…
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Florida state judge reduces homicide sentence based on "battered spouse syndrome"
This notable local sentencing story, which is headlined "Davie woman gets five-year sentence for fatal shooting: Woman gets 5 years for killing man who abused her," reports on a sentencing reduction a judge granted based…
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Bernie Kerik enters plea deal providing him a different perspective on homeland secutiry
As detailed in this New York Times article, Bernard Kerik today pleaded guilty to eight charges including tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Kerik, who lead the NYPD through the 9/11 attack and…
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Playing the "blame game" for increased sentencing disparities after Booker
With the upcoming five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Booker and a new Wall Street Journal piece discussing the enduring challenge of balancing individual and equal justice, I have been thinking lately about…
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"[A]mong those facing drug-related charges, incarceration and supervision seem not to deter subsequent criminal behavior"
The title of this post is the key take-away from the abstract of this new criminology paper on SSRN from Donald Green and Daniel Winik. The paper is titled "Using Random Judge Assignments to Estimate…
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Noting significant biases in pot policies and practices
CNN has this notable new commentary headlined "Pot acceptable? Not for young and nonwhite," which is authored by Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance. Here are extended excerpts from an important piece: This year…
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"10 Bodies in Sex Offender's Home: Is System Broken?"
The title of this post is the headline of this new ABC News piece which seeks to reflect on what the horrific Anthony Sowell case might tell us about modern sex offender regulation efforts. Here…
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As Booker approaches five, the individual/equal justice debate continues on
Remarkably, in just a couple of months, we can mark the five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Booker to transform the federal sentencing guidelines from legal mandates to advisory rules. The the debates…