Federal judge who gave up his blog is posting again, offering his thoughts on sentence reform
Two months ago, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said he was giving up his pull-no-punches blog, Hercules and the Umpire.
But that apparently doesn’t mean that he has given up blogging entirely. In a Wednesday post at Fault Lines, the judge offers his thoughts on federal sentencing reform.
“My personal view (while sipping cheap white wine on the patio) is this: We have too many people in federal prisons, and we impose sentences that are frequently too long,” he writes.
Ironically, he notes that his own sentences tend to be a bit longer than the average of what other federal judges impose. However, it’s hard to tell whether he is in accord with the dictates of Congress and the U.S. Sentencing Commission because of standards that are “too vague and too long and too contradictory,” Kopf says.
Current sentencing standards should be junked, he suggests, and he also has a proposal for how Congress could rewrite its sentencing statute.
A single sentence, he says, is all that is needed (along with subsequent guidance from the sentencing commission): “The court shall impose a sentence that effectively lessens the likelihood of future crime, either by deterring others or incapacitating the defendant. In so doing, the sentencing judge shall consider the pronouncements of the Sentencing Commission.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Federal judge says he will stop blogging; Ted Cruz post isn’t the reason”
