Sentencing Law & Policy

The Bureau of Justice Statistics just released this new report, titled "Federal Justice Statistics, 2023," which is decribed this way in the email sent my way: The Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs,... Douglas A. Berman Data on sentencing Detailed sentencing data Offender Characteristics Offense Characteristics

As reported in this USA Today article, "Arizona executed convicted murderer Aaron Gunches by lethal injection Wednesday, marking the first execution in the state since 2022. Gunches, 53, had sought his execution since his guilty plea for the 2002 murder... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Who Sentences

This morning the US Sentencing Commission sent out an email highlighing notable new materials and data now available via the USSC's website: 2024 Annual Report The Annual Report highlights the Commission’s major activities and accomplishments during fiscal year 2024 as... Douglas A. Berman Data on sentencing Detailed sentencing data Federal Sentencing Guidelines

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Michael O'Hear and now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: In 2019, in Timbs v. Indiana, the United States Supreme Court held for the first... Douglas A. Berman Fines, Restitution and Other Economic Sanctions Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As reported in this local article, "Louisiana executed death row prisoner Jessie Hoffman on Tuesday evening, killing him with nitrogen gas, a method never before used in the state." Here is more: The execution was Louisiana's first in 15 years.... Douglas A. Berman Baze and Glossip lethal injection cases Death Penalty Reforms Sentences Reconsidered

In spring 2023, as detailed in this post, Florida became the first state to authorize the death penalty for the crime of child rape since the Supreme Court's ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008). (In Kennedy, the... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Offense Characteristics Sex Offender Sentencing Who Sentences

The title of this post is the title of this new piece authored by Dyllan Taxman now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: In early 2024, James and Jennifer Crumbley were sentenced to over a decade in prison after... Douglas A. Berman Offense Characteristics Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing

Prez Trump via this Truth Social post makes a variety of unclear claims while asserting that "many" of former Prez Bidens pardons "are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT." Like many social media postings, there... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

It has been a little while since I highlighted here posts from the Sentencing Matters Substack, in part because some recent essays published there have gone beyond just sentencing topics. But especially with this latest posting teaching me something about... Douglas A. Berman Federal Sentencing Guidelines Recommended reading

The title of this post is the title of this new "ahead of print" article forthcoming in the journal Crime and Justice. Authored by Michele Pifferi, her is the piece's abstract: The notion of rehabilitative punishment has changed over time,... Douglas A. Berman Prisons and prisoners Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing

As reported in this post a few days ago, a federal district judge entered a temporary injunction to prevent Louisiana from moving forward next week with it first nitrogen gas execution. That order was swiftly appealed to the Fifth Circuit,... Douglas A. Berman Baze and Glossip lethal injection cases Death Penalty Reforms Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As highlighted in a number of prior posts (see lonks below), in recent weeks federal criminal defendants and sometimes even the US Justice Department has been asserting that Prez Trump's Jan 6 pardons cover seemingly unrelated crimes. This week, as... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Offense Characteristics Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Who Sentences

As reported in this local article, the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative, an initiative by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Public Defender to reduce mass incarceration in the state, has released its first report detailing... Douglas A. Berman Race, Class, and Gender Recommended reading Scope of Imprisonment

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Benjamin Levin now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: “Punishment” is an all-important category in criminal legal thought. Conventional scholarship adopts a narrow definition and... Douglas A. Berman Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing Reentry and community supervision

With a notable number of new executions scheduled, and notable new execution methods being utilized or considered in a number of states, the application of capital punishment in the United States is generating even more than its usual number of... Douglas A. Berman Baze and Glossip lethal injection cases Death Penalty Reforms

The title of this post is the title of this notable new empirical paper, recently published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, authored by Marcella Alsan, Arkey Barnett, Peter Hull and Crystal Yang. (Hat tip to Probable Causation, the podcast... Douglas A. Berman Prisons and prisoners Reentry and community supervision

A helpful colleague made sure I saw the notable new opinion handed down earlier this week by SDNY Judge Jed Rakoff in US v. Tavberidze, No. 23-cr-585-03 (SDNY Mar. 10, 2025) (available here). Long-time readers likely know that Judge Rakoff... Douglas A. Berman Federal Sentencing Guidelines Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Who Sentences

It has become somewhat more common in recent times for a president to make considerable clemency news in his final few months in office. But Prez Trump continues to make lots of clemency headlines in his first few months in... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons White-collar sentencing Who Sentences

As detailed on this page on the its website, the US Sentencing Commission has a public hearing scheduled "for Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13, 2025 tentatively beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT) on both days ... to receive testimony... Douglas A. Berman Federal Sentencing Guidelines Who Sentences

As reported in this NBC News piece, a "federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked Louisiana's first execution in 15 years after lawyers for the condemned man argued a new method known as nitrogen hypoxia would violate his constitutional rights." Here... Douglas A. Berman Baze and Glossip lethal injection cases Death Penalty Reforms