Sentencing/Post Conviction

Sex offenders are least likely to have tattoos, analysis of Florida database concludes

Sex offenders, particularly offenders convicted of pedophilia-related crimes, tend to have the fewest number of tattoos, according to an analysis of Florida prison records. The Economist conducted the analysis, which found that prisoners convicted of property crimes or weapons-related charges were most likely to have tattoos. The most popular tattoos…

Jan 10, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Judge criticized for six-month sexual assault sentence won’t face discipline

A California judge won’t face discipline for his controversial six-month sentence in a sexual assault case against a Stanford University champion swimmer, a state judicial commission announced on Monday. The Commission on Judicial Performance found there was not clear and convincing evidence of bias, abuse of authority or other misconduct…

Dec 20, 2016 9:24 AM CST

Obama grants 78 pardons and 153 commutations, setting one-day record

President Barack Obama on Monday pardoned 78 people and commuted the sentences of 153 others. During his time in office, Obama has pardoned a total of 148 people and commuted the sentences of 1,176 federal inmates, report the Washington Post and USA Today. The grant of clemency to 231 people…

Dec 19, 2016 3:06 PM CST

39% of prison inmates incarcerated with little public safety rationale, study says

A three-year research project by the Brennan Center examining federal and state criminal laws along with convictions and sentences for the nation’s 1.46 million prisoners has determined that 39 percent of them—576,000 men and women—are behind bars for “no compelling public safety reason,” costing nearly $20 billion a year. Significantly,…

Dec 12, 2016 3:25 PM CST

Former politician’s sentence is among the longest for a US congressman

Former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for corruption, a term that is less than the amount sought by prosecutors but still among the longest sentences for a member of Congress. U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III imposed the sentence, report Philly.com, the Legal…

Dec 12, 2016 12:17 PM CST

Bank fraud law reaches scheme to cheat bank depositor of account funds, Supreme Court says

A person may be guilty of bank fraud under federal law even though he intended to cheat a bank depositor rather than the bank, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous opinion on Monday. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the court’s decision (PDF) in the case of Lawrence Shaw.…

Dec 12, 2016 10:19 AM CST

Former inmate attends law school, earns a Skadden Fellowship to help other convicts with re-entry

In the spring Tarra Simmons is expected to graduate from Seattle University Law School, less than five years after serving a state prison sentence for drug and theft convictions. In December she was awarded a Skadden Fellowship, and has plans to use the money working with low-income people recently released…

Dec 9, 2016 2:30 PM CST

Alabama inmate ‘heaved and coughed’ during execution

An Alabama inmate who was executed on Thursday night appeared to struggle during the execution, causing one of his lawyers to remark that he had warned prison officials a contingency plan was needed if the execution didn’t go smoothly. The inmate, Ronald Bert Smith Jr., was executed after the U.S.…

Dec 9, 2016 9:48 AM CST

Racial bias in New York state prisons is ‘fact of life,’ newspaper investigation concludes

Black and Hispanic prisoners in New York prisons are disciplined and sent to solitary confinement at higher rates than whites, and the disparities are greatest when officers had greater discretion, a New York Times investigation has found. Overall, blacks were 30 percent more likely to be cited for a disciplinary…

Dec 6, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Texas Supreme Court justice serves as juror in shoplifting case

Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown says the two days he spent as a juror in a shoplifting case last week reaffirmed what he had experienced as a trial judge: Jurors are very conscientious and they work hard to follow their instructions. Brown was chosen as jury foreman in the…

Dec 5, 2016 9:20 AM CST

Sons of Ethel Rosenberg make last-ditch plea for presidential exoneration

The sons of convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg stopped by the White House on Thursday and attempted to deliver a letter calling on President Barack Obama to publicly exonerate their mother. Robert and Michael Meeropol stopped by uninvited and a guard turned them away, report the Associated Press and…

Dec 2, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Jailhouse Warehouse: The nation’s jails are housing more mentally ill people than hospitals

Across the nation, about 383,000 inmates with serious mental illness sit in jails and state prisons. That’s 10 times as many people as in state hospitals, according to the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center. Read this ABA Journal feature recently honored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Dec 1, 2016 4:30 AM CST

Double jeopardy doesn’t bar retrial in case of inconsistent verdicts, Supreme Court rules

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that double jeopardy doesn’t bar the partial retrial of a corporate president and a Puerto Rican senator when a jury delivered inconsistent verdicts, but the counts on which they were convicted were vacated because of incorrect jury instructions. The unanimous decision (PDF) by…

Nov 29, 2016 11:49 AM CST

Are former offenders more likely to be fired for misconduct?

Workers with criminal records in low-skilled, white-collar jobs are generally no more likely to be fired than other employees, with one exception, according to a study by researchers at Northwestern University. Among the employees in the study who were fired, those with a criminal record were slightly more likely to…

Nov 28, 2016 7:00 AM CST

In ‘blistering’ ruling, court upholds recusal of entire Orange County DA’s office from murder case

A California appeals court issued a sharply worded rebuke to the state Attorney General’s office yesterday in a high-profile case, the Orange County Register reported. The ruling came in the high-profile murder trial of Scott Dekraai, who in 2011 shot up the hair salon where his former wife was working,…

Nov 23, 2016 2:40 PM CST