Sentencing Bias in the U.S. | Why Justice Isn’t Blind
President Obama, in a speech at Howard University in 2016, provided some thoughtful insight on the existence of implicit bias in our criminal justice system, stating, “And we knew . . . that even the good cops with the best of intentions – including, by the way, African-American police officers – might have unconscious biases,…
Sentencing Alternatives To Prison Cheered By Reformers
It is becoming increasingly clear that America’s experiment with mass incarceration is a failure. The United States has the dubious distinction of being the world leader in the number of citizens sitting behind bars even though our country is not the world leader in safer communities. Sentencing alternatives are needed. Fortunately, the public is becoming…
Sentencing Examples: How Disparity Affects Sentencing Practices
Is it possible for someone to receive a longer prison sentence for drug possession than for murder? Yes. Is it true that if a drug dealer’s house stood just 100 feet farther from a school, he would have received a drastically shorter sentence? Yes. In fact, sentencing examples like this are present everywhere. Disparity in…
5 Tips For Choosing The Best Sentencing Advocate
Procedural crime television shows, courtroom dramas, and suspense thrillers in our current world of pop culture tend to present the bad guy as just that – a “bad guy.” Not a lot of dimensions to the “bad guy” in most cases. Unless of course you have an effective sentencing advocate. Take the television show Law…
Sentencing to Death? ABA Says Not For Those Under 21
When it comes to public opinion on the whether sentencing to death is appropriate, to borrow from Bob Dylan – “The times they are a’ changin’.” The American public is losing confidence in the death penalty these days. It appears that people are deeply concerned about innocent people being sentenced to death; about fairness in…
Sentencing Reform And Federal Prison News – January 2018
We are a week into 2018 and there is much buzz about what lies ahead in the year from the courts, Congress, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission for federal prison and sentencing reform. Here’s a summary of some of the highlights. (a) Congress – Sentencing Reform Different bills remain under consideration, but none have yet…
Federal Prison Oversight Hearing Much Ado About Nothing
On Wednesday, December, 13, 2017, the House Oversight Committee held a 2.5 hr long federal prison oversight hearing. Many prisoners and their family members had hoped this hearing would hold the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) accountable for its recent decision to reduce or cancel federal halfway house placements for many prisoners. But the hearing,…
Certiorari Granted By Supreme Court In Three New Criminal Appeals
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted certiorari in three new criminal cases. Certiorari is a latin term that is most commonly associated with a writ of certiorari, a discretionary order issued by the Supreme Court when it agrees to review a lower court’s decision. A writ of certiorari will not issue unless four Justices agree to hear a…
Federal Halfway House Closings: UPDATE
I previously wrote about the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) decision to close several halfway houses. Since that article in October 2017, I have obtained a couple of new BOP memorandums that shed additional light about the federal halfway house closings. I. October 10, 2017 – Memo About Federal Halfway House Closings On October 10,…
Federal Halfway House – Everything You Need To Know
Over the past several weeks, I have received numerous e-mails and calls from different individuals concerning federal halfway house placements that have been reduced significantly—or denied entirely—by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). What is going on? A variety of things, it seems. I. Federal Halfway House – A Brief Overview The BOP has long…