Sentencing Posts
Criminal Justice Reform: A Survey of 2018 State Laws
State legislatures across the country made significant strides in reforming their criminal justice regimes throughout 2018. States revised their existing criminal codes, passed new legislation, and amended their constitutions in order to address a range of criminal justice concerns.
Why Does the US Sentence People to Hundreds of Years in Prison?
On July 15, a Virginia judge sentenced James Fields Jr. to a life sentence, plus 419 years, for killing Heather Heyer at the 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist rally by ramming his car into a crowd.
Federal Government to Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly Two Decade Lapse
On July 25, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release announcing that the Federal Government will resume capital punishment after a nearly two decade lapse.
Measuring Changes in Incarceration Rates: Shifts in Carceral Intensity as Felt by Communities
This article is about how we quantify and perceive changes in incarceration rates, what we mean when we say that some states have had more incarceration growth than others, and what metrics we should treat as “success” when states experiment with prison-population controls.
Setting Limits on Mass Conviction
For the past several years, the Collateral Consequences Resource Center has been documenting the emergence of an extraordinary legislative trend in the states that is aimed at helping individuals overcome the adverse consequences of a criminal record. It appears that lawmakers are at last recognizing the economic disadvantages of having burdened almost a third of the adult population with some sort of criminal record, the product of a vast expansion of criminal prosecutions over the past thirty years.
Sixth Circuit Forces Rethink On Federal Sentencing Guidance
An article from Law360 Access to Justice breaks down a recent appellate decision on the interpretation of federal sentencing guidelines which could have a major impact on people with prior criminal records who are being sentenced for new crimes.
‘Model Penal Code: Sentencing—Workable Limits on Mass Punishment’
Kevin R. Reitz of University of Minnesota Law School and Cecelia M. Klingele of University of Wisconsin Law School recently published an article in Volume 48 of Crime and Justice, a journal from the University of Chicago.
Alexandra Natapoff Examines US Misdemeanor System in Law360 Article
In a recent article for Law360 Access to Justice, Alexandra Natapoff of UC Irvine School of Law examines the misdemeanor process in the U.S. criminal justice system.
New Hampshire Abolishes Death Penalty As Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto
New Hampshire is now the 21st U.S. state to have abolished capital punishment. State legislature voted to override a veto by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu on Thursday, May 30.
Can Federal Sentencing Remain Transparent?
Criminal trials have virtually disappeared in many federal courtrooms. According to a recent U.S. Sentencing Commission report, “[i]n recent years, 97 percent of federal defendants convicted of a felony or Class A misdemeanor offense are adjudicated guilty based on a guilty plea rather than on a verdict at a trial.”