Sentencing Law & Policy

The title of this post is the title of this new paper now available via SSRN and authored by Paul Robinson, Jeffrey Seaman and Hugh Rennie. Here is its abstract: The last several decades of the 20th century saw a... Douglas A. Berman Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing

As reported in this USA Today piece, "Florida has executed a man known as the 'Casanova Killer' for his good looks and ability to charm women just before murdering them." Here is more: Glen Edward Rogers, 62, was executed Thursday... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms

The Supreme Court this morning handed down a short opinion in Barnes v. Felix, No. 23–1239 (S. Ct. May 15, 2025) (available here). The unanimous ruling, authored by Justice Kagan for the Court, breaks no new ground, but reiterates prior... Douglas A. Berman Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Who Sentences

As it does so well, US Sentencing Commission is continuing to release all sort of notable data on all sorts of issues in the federal sentencing world. For example, the Commission has released these new "Quick Facts" documents: NEW Career... Douglas A. Berman Data on sentencing Detailed sentencing data Drug Offense Sentencing Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Georgia's administration of capital punishment has long had a unique place in the history of the death penalty in the United States. But, as detailed in this local article, one unique aspect of its modern death penalty process changed this... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Offender Characteristics Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Who Sentences

In this post around Thanksgiving last year at the Sentencing Matters Substack, I made the case for chief executives to make more and more regular use of their clemency powers. And I had this musing in that commentary: "I think... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As reported in this Los Angeles Times article, "Erik and Lyle Menendez received a chance at freedom Tuesday after more than 35 years in prison, with an L.A. County judge granting a request to resentence them after hours of emotional... Douglas A. Berman Celebrity sentencings Clemency and Pardons Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

I have done a couple of 2025 posts (here and here) drawing on big city "real time" homicide data from police departments to detail the remarkable decline in murders apparently unfolding in many large urban areas through the first part... Douglas A. Berman National and State Crime Data

The title of this post is the title of this new article available via SSRN and authored by Barnett Harris and Christopher Merken. Here is its abstract: Every year, federal judges sentence tens of thousands of criminal defendants to carceral... Douglas A. Berman Federal Sentencing Guidelines Procedure and Proof at Sentencing

As flagged in this post, just a couple of days before he left the Oval Office back in 2021, Prez Trump issued an exective order titled "Executive Order on Protecting Americans From Overcriminalization Through Regulatory Reform." I am pretty sure... Douglas A. Berman Criminal justice in the Trump Administration Offender Characteristics Offense Characteristics Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing Who Sentences

The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by Carissa Byrne Hessick and Meighan Parsh now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: The academic literature on prosecutors is divided: Some commentors believe that prosecutors... Douglas A. Berman Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing Who Sentences

Via this post by Robert Dunham at The DP3 Substack, I see that the Legal Defense Fund has released its latest accounting of persons on death rows in the US, Death Row USA, Spring 2025. The LDF document, which runs... Douglas A. Berman Criminal justice in the Trump Administration Data on sentencing Death Penalty Reforms Detailed sentencing data Who Sentences

Yesterday the Ninth Circuit via a lengthy en banc ruling in US v. Duarte, No. 22-50048 (9th Cir. May 9, 2025) (available here), rejected a Second Amendment challenge to the federal criminal law, 18 USC § 922(g)(1), that makes it... Douglas A. Berman Second Amendment issues Who Sentences

As reported in this extensive New York Times piece authored by Linda Greenhouse, "David H. Souter, a New Hampshire Republican who was named to the Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush and who over 19 years on that bench... Douglas A. Berman Who Sentences

As reported in this Reuters article, Prez Trump is changing path with a new nominee for the top federal prosecutor in Washington DC: "President Donald Trump on Thursday appointed Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to serve as Washington, D.C.'s interim... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

The title of this post is the title of this new article now available via SSRN authored by John B. Meixner Jr. Here is its abstract: As guilty-plea rates have skyrocketed, sentencing has become an increasingly important part of criminal... Douglas A. Berman Data on sentencing Detailed sentencing data Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Race, Class, and Gender

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Shima Baradaran Baughman now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: The American criminal justice system is known to dole out the harshest punishments in the... Douglas A. Berman Prisons and prisoners Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing Scope of Imprisonment

Emily Widra and Emmett Sanders at the Prison Policy Initiative have produced this notable briefing digging into this new Bureau of Justice Statistics publication titled "Maternal Healthcare and Pregnancy Prevalence and Outcomes in Prisons, 2023." This briefing's title provides its... Douglas A. Berman Offender Characteristics Prisons and prisoners Race, Class, and Gender

The title of this post is the headline of this new Bloomberg Law article, which is worth reading in full. Here are some extended excerpts: The president “is effectively and responsibly using his constitutional authority,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Sentences Reconsidered White-collar sentencing Who Sentences

This local story out of Arizona seems like just one glimpse into the brave new digital world that all lawyers and legal institutions need to be thinking about. The article is headlined "Family uses AI to create video for deadly... Douglas A. Berman Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Technocorrections Victims' Rights At Sentencing Who Sentences