McConnell Pressured to Allow Passage of First Step Act
It could be the most significant step in criminal sentencing and prison reform in a generation. But, the FIRST STEP Act faces one major obstacle standing in the way of passage – Kentucky Senator and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And this could be the one and only chance for this historic bill to pass.…
Read MoreFirst Step Act Prison Reform Bill Update
A Tentative Deal in the Senate May Finally Pave the Way for the Most Substantial Rewrite of the Nation’s Criminal Justice Laws in a Generation. Having just worked our way through a blistering midterm election season, there is little question that our country is divided. Indeed, come January 2019, Congress will officially be divided with…
Read MoreFirst Step Act FAQs: Criminal Justice Reform in Action
On November 14, 2018, criminal justice and prison reform advocates finally heard what they had wanted to hear for almost a year: President Donald Trump is “thrilled to announce his support” for the bipartisan First Step Act criminal justice reform legislation. With President Trump’s support of this legislation the last true obstacle to the First…
Read MoreSentencing Chart in New York: A Closer Look
Just like the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, many states have their own version of sentencing guidelines, and sentencing charts. The State of New York is no exception. The Sentence Chart in New York for state crimes is particularly complicated. In fact, there is not just one sentencing chart in New York, but four. Moreover, those four…
Read MoreSentencing For Money Laundering. Does Crime Pay?
The old adage “crime doesn’t pay” may be true as an overall principle; yet, as a practical matter, crime often does pay – sometimes it pays quite a lot. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reported that crimes involving money represent the majority of criminal activity in the United States. Because money laundering…
Read MoreSentencing Reform and Corrections Act – Is It Time?
Is federal sentencing reform in the United States finally a viable possibility? With the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, maybe . . . just maybe. Faced with the stark reality that the United States’ prison population is the largest in the world, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the current Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee…
Read MoreFederal Sentencing Legislation: Is Jeff Sessions Wrong?
A piece of federal sentencing legislation that was shot down several years ago is now back in play. Then federal sentencing legislation, titled the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, is meant to reverse the negative results of mass incarceration by pulling back on mandatory minimums and also providing much needed assistance to prisoners returning to…
Read More6 Changes in the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act
Although Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has tried to kill the bill in the past, the drumbeat for a sentencing reform act is getting stronger and stronger. Indeed, even many of McConnell’s Republican colleagues see that sentencing reform is the fair and decent thing to do. That is because the sentencing picture in the United States…
Read MoreSentencing Reform And Corrections Act vs. First Step Act
The House of Representatives recently passed the so-called “First Step Act,” which is very different from the “Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act” that is still bouncing around the Senate. I discussed in a previous article, the many details of the House’s “First Step Act” (First Step). Let’s take a closer look at the debate. Some…
Read MoreWhat Can You Expect At A Sentencing Hearing?
We all have watched courtroom dramas on TV, in the movies, and even on stage. Invariably, the crucial moment we all wait for is when the jury foreperson gives the verdict. Indeed, the story usually concludes at that point. In reality, however, there is another whole proceeding that follows a jury verdict of “guilty.” That…
Read MoreU.S. Sentencing Commission’s March 2018 Report: Early Release of Drug Offenders Has No Impact On Recidivism Rates
In a remarkable new report just released from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, we now have more evidence showing that recidivism rates do not increase for those who receive lighter drug sentences. After decades of an experiment in mass incarceration for drug offenses in the United States, this report provides further support for the notion that…
Read MoreSentencing Guidelines for Drugs: New Bill on Fentanyl, and the Fallacy of the “Tough-On-Crime” Approach
There is a bipartisan effort to get sensible about sentencing guidelines for drugs in Congress. The incredibly punitive mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines for drugs currently in place have led to a major mass incarceration problem. It is a problem that does nothing but cost taxpayers far too much to jail so many citizens, and cost many…
Read MoreFirst Step Act – August 2018 Update
In May 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the First Step Act on a bipartisan vote of 360-59. Since then, the First Step Act has been assailed by some on the political right as being “soft on crime,” and on the political left for not going far enough to address unfair sentencing practices. I…
Read MoreBrett Kavanaugh On Crime
Brett Kavanaugh Justice Anthony Kennedy recently announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. Except for death penalty cases, Kennedy rarely voted in favor of criminal defendants. He opposed Apprendi, Booker, Alleyne and many other “seminal” criminal procedure cases handed down by the Court. Thus, while some oppose President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the…
Read MoreSentencing Philosophies – Can We Build The Perfect Prison?
Why do we sentence people? Depending on who you ask, you may get vastly different answers. And those answers depend upon our society’s sentencing philosophies. The Five Sentencing Philosophies There are five basic sentencing philosophies that justify why we punish those who break our criminal laws: retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, deterrence, and restoration. These philosophies arenot…
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