News
News and articles
Articles on the Guidelines, the § 3553(a) factors, appeals, 2255 motions and the motions that can lower a sentence after it is imposed. Older articles describe the law as it stood when they were written, so check the date and the update notes before you rely on one.
- Federal Sentence Computation: Jail Credit, Good Time and Release Dates
The Bureau of Prisons, not the judge, works out a federal release date. Here is how it counts the start date, credit for time already served and good conduct time, and what to do if the math is wrong.
- Allocution: Your Right to Speak at a Federal Sentencing
Allocution is your chance to speak directly to the judge before the sentence is announced. Federal rules require the judge to offer it.
- The Armed Career Criminal Act and the Career Offender Guideline
The Armed Career Criminal Act turns a federal gun-possession charge into a 15-year mandatory minimum for people with three qualifying prior convictions. The career offender guideline is a separate, advisory rule.
- Character Letters for Federal Sentencing: How to Write a Letter to the Judge
A character letter tells the judge who the person being sentenced is beyond the crime. Here is who should write one, what to say, what to leave out and how it gets to the judge.
- Downward Departures and Variances in Federal Sentencing
The Guidelines Manual no longer has departures. Here is what a departure was, what replaced it, and the government-motion routes below the range that still exist.
- The Federal Sentencing Table: How to Read the Guidelines Chart
The sentencing table turns two numbers, the offense level and the criminal history category, into a guideline range in months. Here is the official table and how to read it.
- Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences: How They Work
A mandatory minimum is the shortest prison term a federal statute allows. The judge cannot go below it except in a few narrow situations set by law.
- Offense Level in Federal Sentencing: What It Is and How It Is Determined
The offense level is one of the two numbers that set a federal guideline range. Here is how it is built, step by step, with a made-up example.
- The Presentence Report (PSR): What It Is and How to Object
The presentence report is the probation officer's report to the judge before sentencing. It scores the guidelines and tells the person's story, and it follows them into prison.
- The Federal Safety Valve: Who Qualifies and How It Works
The safety valve lets a judge sentence below a drug mandatory minimum for people who meet five requirements, and it also lowers the guideline range.
- What Is Federal Probation? Terms, Conditions and the Probation Officer
Federal probation is a sentence served in the community instead of prison, under a federal probation officer's supervision. Here is who can get it, the conditions and what happens after a violation.
- Federal Halfway Houses (RRCs): Placement, Rules and Passes
The BOP can place someone in a halfway house for up to the last 12 months of a sentence. Here is how the time is decided, what the rules are, and what to do if it is cut.
- Federal Home Confinement: How BOP House Arrest Works
Most people leaving federal prison can serve the last 10% of the sentence, up to six months, at home. Time credits can add more. Here is how it works and how to ask.
- 2026 Guideline Amendments: Higher Fraud Loss Thresholds and Simpler Multiple-Count Rules
Amendments sent to Congress on April 30, 2026 raise the dollar amounts in the fraud loss table for inflation and rewrite the multiple-count rules.
- Supreme Court Rules Unanimously That MVRA Restitution Is Criminal Punishment
In Ellingburg v. United States, a unanimous Supreme Court held that restitution under the MVRA is criminal punishment for Ex Post Facto purposes.
- Federal Sentencing Guidelines Drop "Departures" Starting November 1, 2025
The 2025 guideline amendments removed nearly all departures and moved federal sentencing to a two-step process.
- Commission Declines to Make 2025 Drug "Mitigating Role" Change Retroactive
On August 6, 2025, a motion to make the 2025 mitigating-role-cap amendment retroactive failed 3–2 because four votes are required.
- July 2, 2021: Borden and § 924(c), AEDPA at 25, and Home Confinement in Limbo
In July 2021, Borden looked like a possible path to relief for some § 924(c) sentences, and thousands on CARES Act home confinement were still waiting for an answer.
- June 25, 2021: Compassionate Release at 87, the Savings Clause After Borden, and a Conflicted Lawyer
In June 2021, an 87-year-old client won compassionate release, and many people asked whether the savings clause could open a path to relief under Borden.
- Borden v. United States: Reckless Crimes Don't Count Under the ACCA
On June 10, 2021, the Supreme Court held in Borden v. United States that a crime that can be committed recklessly is not a violent felony under the ACCA.