Sentencing Law & Policy

I believe the folks at the Prison Policy Initiative typically wait until "pi day" (3/14) to release their annual amazing "pie" graphic and associated report on US incarceration realities. But this year, we all get to consume this data pie... Douglas A. Berman Prisons and prisoners Scope of Imprisonment

Law360 has this interesting new and lengthy article about how Prez Biden's mass clemency of drug offenses in his final few days of office have been playing out. The piece is headlined "For Many Biden Clemency Grantees, Freedom Is On... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As reported in this ABC News piece, "Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he's asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney's motion for resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, calling the brothers' claims of self-defense... Douglas A. Berman Celebrity sentencings Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

The title of this post is the title of this paper authored by Brian Murray recently posted to SSRN. Here is its abstract: Most jurisdictions that permit expungement draw the line at certain crimes — usually those implicating one or... Douglas A. Berman Collateral consequences Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing Who Sentences

The title of this post is the headline of this notable new Washington Monthly piece. The piece's subtitle reveals more clearly what the author, Cliff Sloan, is discussing and his driving perspective: "Lewis Powell, Harry Blackmun, and John Paul Stevens... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Who Sentences

Regular readers know I am a big fan of second-look sentencing mechanisms, which I have been writing about in various ways in various fora for many years. Here are a couple of posts I authored last year at the Sentencing... Douglas A. Berman Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

In a couple of recent posts (here and here) since Prez Trump's announcement that Alice Marie Johnson will serve as his "pardon czar"(see prior posts here and here), I have wondered aloud about how the work of the Justice Department's... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As reported in this AP piece, a "South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by that method, which he saw... Douglas A. Berman Baze and Glossip lethal injection cases Death Penalty Reforms Who Sentences

This new lengthy Stateline article, imperfectly headlined "Trump’s death penalty push faces resistance in some red states," highlights a lot of recent state capital punishment developments. I recommend the whole piece, and here are excerpts: In an executive order he... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Who Sentences

I find second-look sentencing provisions so interesting and important because so much can happen after a lengthy sentence is imposed that can justify taking a second look at that sentence. This reality was on full display in a second-look sentencing... Douglas A. Berman Celebrity sentencings Sentences Reconsidered

This new Reuters article discusses (too) briefly Justice Jackson's comments today about the federal sentencing guidelines at the ABA's White Collar Crime Institute: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said on Thursday she would support revisiting sentencing guidelines for... Douglas A. Berman Federal Sentencing Guidelines White-collar sentencing

In this post more than seven years ago, I flagged a decision by the Supreme Court of Delaware, Smack v. Delaware, No. 601 (Del. Oct. 11, 2017) (available here), in which the court rules that a sentencing judge complied with... Douglas A. Berman Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences

As detailed on this webpage, the US Sentencing Commission has today released a notable new study analyzing federal drug trafficking offenses that involved an overdose. Here is how the report is summarized on that page: "The Commission’s research report Overdoses... Douglas A. Berman Drug Offense Sentencing Federal Sentencing Guidelines Offense Characteristics

Brad Sigmon, who a quarter century ago murdered his ex-girlfriend’s parents, chose to be executed by firing squad rather than via the two other methods available in South Carolina, the electric chair and lethal injection. This execution is scheduled for... Douglas A. Berman Death Penalty Reforms Who Sentences

In this post late last week, I noted a new article by Daniel Loehr available via SSRN titled "The Eugenic History of Habitual Offender Laws." Today I received an email from The Sentencing Project about its new report, authored by... Douglas A. Berman Mandatory minimum sentencing statutes Offender Characteristics Scope of Imprisonment

As I have mentioned in the past and will surely mention again in the future, there are too many notable daily and weekly developments in our nation's prisons and jails to cover them all (or even to cover some well)... Douglas A. Berman Prisons and prisoners

NBC News has this lengthy new piece, headlined "Biden and Trump pardons come under scrutiny, renewing calls for reform," that is long on recent clemency criticisms (especially Prez Biden's last-minute clemency flurry) and short on serious clemency reform discussions. The... Douglas A. Berman Clemency and Pardons Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Who Sentences

Via email, I learned of an exciting event taking place on April 4, 2025, in Phildelphia. Here is the event description drawn from the email text of LawProf Lucian Dervan, who is the Founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute:... Douglas A. Berman Procedure and Proof at Sentencing

Thanks only to a Facebook post by John Pfaff, today I discovered that the Major Cities Chiefs Association has released this national data from its violent crime surveys at year end 2024. These data show that all categories of violent... Douglas A. Berman National and State Crime Data

The US Supreme Court this morning in this new order list granted certiorari in one case, and it is a criminal/sentencing matter. The petitioner via this cert petition in Barrett v. US, No. 24-5774, presented two questions to the Justices,... Douglas A. Berman Gun policy and sentencing Mandatory minimum sentencing statutes Procedure and Proof at Sentencing Sentences Reconsidered Who Sentences