Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice and Activist, Passes
On September 18, 2020, we lost a prominent member of the United States Supreme Court. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away after serving 27 years on the Supreme Court. Originally appointed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, Ginsberg was best know for her activist nature. She spent a lifetime working for gender equality for…
COVID-19 Mortality Rates On the Rise
Since COVID-19 first appeared in the US, prisons across the country have felt the brunt of its effects. By August 2020, 19 of the 20 top clusters of active cases in the US were found in incarceration facilities. With more than 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, it is imperative that the effects…
JUSTFAIR New Tool Gives Power Back to the People
A powerful new tool called JUSTFAIR now allows the public to dig through federal sentencing archives to see exactly what federal judges are doing with sentencing. It’s the first time the public has been able to see all the major federal sentencing data in one place, without having to hunt around and piece it all…
Habeas Petitions and Gap Delays
California and reasonable “Gap Delay” The California Supreme Court has finally given some guidance on how much “gap delay” is considered “reasonable” before a habeas petition is too late. That’s the time interval between habeas petitions when a state prisoner files a new petition to “appeal” the denial of a habeas petition. It’s a question…
Correctional Populations on the Decline in America
Mass incarceration has plagued the United States for years now. There are still over 6 million people incarcerated in America. But a new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics suggests that correctional populations are on the decline. This report is part of an annual series that began in 1958. It’s primary use is to…
Attacking the Guilty Plea Part III: Establishing Prejudice in the Guilty Plea Context
In my last column, we went over the general standard for showing ineffective assistance of counsel (“IAC”) in the guilty plea context under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). In this column, we’ll go over the showing required to establish prejudice in the different categories of IAC regarding guilty pleas. There are three main categories…
First Step Act – A Year in Review
The U.S. Sentencing Commission published a new study addressing the first-year impact of the First Step Act. You will find a summary of the key findings of this below. KEY FINDINGS This publication examines the impact of the First Step Act, analyzing data from the first year following its enactment, compared to data from the…
Attacking the Guilty Plea Part II: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
More than 95 percent of state and federal prisoners plead guilty, and most of them do so on the advice of their lawyer. A successful attack on a guilty plea would then depend on showing that counsel’s bad advice to plead guilty rendered the plea not “knowing and voluntary.” We covered the knowing and voluntary…
Attacking the Guilty Plea: The ‘Voluntarily and Knowingly Made’ Standard
Guilty Pleas After Conviction Attacking the guilty plea is probably one of the least understood concepts in the post conviction world, even though more than 95 percent of state and federal convictions are the direct result of a guilty plea. In 2018 alone, there were 73,109 federal convictions with 71,550 of them by way of…
What qualifies as “extraordinary and compelling circumstances” in the time of COVID-19
The Coronavirus pandemic has shined a new light on who may qualify for a compassionate release. To qualify for a compassionate release, one must demonstrate extraordinary and compelling circumstances, such as chronic health conditions or inability to care for oneself. The following comes directly from the Center for Disease Control and outlines what health conditions…