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
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
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