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Wed, 06/25/2025 - 21:50
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new article by Keith Humphreys in The Atlantic headlined "America’s Incarceration Rate Is About to Fall Off a Cliff." I recommend the article in full because there are...
Douglas A. Berman
Data on sentencing
Scope of Imprisonment
Wed, 06/25/2025 - 11:46
Via email I reveiced news yesterday that the American Civil Liberties Union has released this new report on “death qualification” in capital cases titled "Fatal Flaws: Revealing the Racial and Religious Gerrymandering of the Capital Jury." Here is a portion...
Douglas A. Berman
Death Penalty Reforms
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Who Sentences
Wed, 06/25/2025 - 11:36
In this post a few months ago, I flagged not only the first issue of Volume 37 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter (titled "Booker at Twenty"), but also that FSR had a shiny new publisher, Duke University Press, as well...
Douglas A. Berman
Recommended reading
Technocorrections
Tue, 06/24/2025 - 19:06
As reported in this AP article, a "man convicted of raping and killing a woman near a central Florida bar was executed Tuesday evening. Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at...
Douglas A. Berman
Death Penalty Reforms
Who Sentences
Tue, 06/24/2025 - 10:24
It has been a little while since I highlighted here posts from the Sentencing Matters Substack, though I hope readers are keeping up with (and are subscribed to) the SMS action that usually appears as long-form essays posted at least...
Douglas A. Berman
Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Who Sentences
Tue, 06/24/2025 - 10:02
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this new Marijuana Moment article headlined "Letting Marijuana Users Have Guns Poses ‘A Clear Danger,’ Trump’s Solicitor General Tells Supreme Court." The article reviews much of the recent lower...
Douglas A. Berman
Drug Offense Sentencing
Gun policy and sentencing
Second Amendment issues
Sentences Reconsidered
Who Sentences
Mon, 06/23/2025 - 19:50
The title of this post is the title of this new article now available via SSRN authored by Renagh O'Leary. Here is its abstract: This Article describes and critiques a practice I call the ideological testing of criminal defendants. Ideological...
Douglas A. Berman
Offender Characteristics
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Mon, 06/23/2025 - 14:35
I likely should make even more of an effort to flag here the always great work done by the folks at The Marshall Project, and three new original pieces prompts me to do this quick round up. All three of...
Douglas A. Berman
Prisons and prisoners
Sex Offender Sentencing
Mon, 06/23/2025 - 09:51
This morning's Supreme Court orders list is quite short, but it is also sweet for one prisoner who is seeking damages from Louisiana prison official for a violation of his rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act....
Douglas A. Berman
Prisons and prisoners
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Sun, 06/22/2025 - 08:31
The US Sentencing Commission has recently published on this USSC webpage five short new documents as part of its helpful "Amendment in Brief" series. As explained on that page, "'Amendments In Brief' are short summaries, usually one to two pages,...
Douglas A. Berman
Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Who Sentences
Sun, 06/22/2025 - 08:21
The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by William W. Berry III now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: In January 2024, the state of Alabama executed Kenneth Smith with nitrogen gas. One...
Douglas A. Berman
Baze and Glossip cases and execution methods
Death Penalty Reforms
Sentences Reconsidered
Who Sentences
Sat, 06/21/2025 - 10:42
In this post a couple months ago, I rounded up a lot of encouraging police data on homicide rates through the first quarter of 2025. As summer officially gets started, it seemed a good time to update some of these...
Douglas A. Berman
Fri, 06/20/2025 - 11:30
The title of this post is the title of this new article authored by Michal Buchhandler-Raphael and available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: Undercharging, a common prosecutorial tactic, refers to the strategic pursuit of lesser charges than the law...
Douglas A. Berman
Offender Characteristics
Offense Characteristics
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Who Sentences
Fri, 06/20/2025 - 10:14
The Supreme Court this morning handed down a notable sentencing opinion this morning in Esteras v. United States, No. 23-7483 (S. Ct. June 20, 2025) (available here). The vote as 7-2, and the opinion for the Court was authored by...
Douglas A. Berman
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Purposes of Punishment and Sentencing
Reentry and community supervision
Wed, 06/18/2025 - 17:13
In what will be among its last few opinion days of October Term 2024, the US Supreme Court this morning released five opinions. The only criminal justice related case decided today involved a procedural issue for a prisoner's suit, as...
Douglas A. Berman
FIRST STEP Act and its implementation
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Sentences Reconsidered
Who Sentences
Wed, 06/18/2025 - 16:35
As reported in this Marijuana Moment article, the "governor of Colorado has announced a first-ever round of mass pardons for people with psilocybin-related convictions." Here is more: Just about two weeks after Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill into...
Douglas A. Berman
Clemency and Pardons
Data on sentencing
Drug Offense Sentencing
Who Sentences
Wed, 06/18/2025 - 10:49
In a ruling certain to be far less discussed that many other issued by the Supreme Court today, the Justices held by a 5-4 vote in Perttu v. Richards, No.23-1324 (S. Ct. June 18, 2025) (available here), that a prisoner...
Douglas A. Berman
Prisons and prisoners
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Who Sentences
Wed, 06/18/2025 - 09:02
I just saw this morning this new one-page press release from the federal Bureau of Prisons titled "Bureau of Prisons Issues Directive to Fully Implement First Step Act and Second Chance Act." The release merits a full read, and here...
Douglas A. Berman
Criminal justice in the Trump Administration
FIRST STEP Act and its implementation
Prisons and prisoners
Who Sentences
Tue, 06/17/2025 - 11:22
I am pleased to see that the US Sentencing Commission is continuing to release new "Quick Facts" publications, today with a "special edition" focused on prison contraband. (Long-time readers know I cannot praise the USSC enough for producing these convenient...
Douglas A. Berman
Data on sentencing
Detailed sentencing data
Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Offender Characteristics
Offense Characteristics
Prisons and prisoners
Tue, 06/17/2025 - 11:16
The title of this post is the title of this new paper available via SSRN and authored by Nirej Sekhon. Here is its abstract: It is clear that American carceral policy is excessively harsh, but it is unclear how to...
Douglas A. Berman
Procedure and Proof at Sentencing
Who Sentences
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