Articles
Sentencing articles
Articles filed under Sentencing, newest first.
- Can You Use the Savings Clause for a Case Decided During Your 2255 Appeal?
Not anymore for most claims: the Sixth Circuit allowed it in 2020, but the Supreme Court closed that route in Jones v. Hendrix (2023).
- Who Decides If You Told the Truth for the Safety Valve? The Judge
The judge does, not the government: the Fifth Circuit held that a court must decide for itself whether a defendant was truthful enough for the safety valve.
- How Long Do You Have to File a 2255 or Federal Habeas Petition?
Generally one year, usually counted from the date your conviction became final, though four different events can start the clock and a few exceptions can pause it.
- Can Risk Scores Make Sentencing Fairer? Limits and Alternatives
Risk assessment tools are not a reliable fix for over-incarceration on their own, Jessica Eaglin argues, because they can carry the system's old biases forward.
- Are Risk Assessment Tools New? Their Long History in Sentencing
Not really: risk prediction shaped parole decisions and 1980s sentencing guidelines long before today's data-driven tools arrived.
- Risk Assessment Tools in Sentencing: Do They Help or Harm?
Risk assessment tools score how likely someone is to commit another crime, and many courts now use those scores at sentencing, which is why they are so debated.
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, at age 87, after 27 years on the U.S. Supreme Court.
- JUSTFAIR: Look Up How a Federal Judge Has Sentenced People
JUSTFAIR is a public database that links about 600,000 federal sentences to the judges who imposed them.
- Which State Offices Handle White-Collar Crime?
A Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows which state attorneys general handled white-collar cases in 2014 and what sanctions they saw.
- Does Brain Scan Evidence Help or Hurt at Sentencing?
It can do both: evidence of a brain disorder may lead to less prison time, but research suggests it can also lead to more time in a hospital.
- Can a Juvenile Be Sentenced to Life Without Parole?
Only if the judge has the power to consider the person's youth: a mandatory life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile is unconstitutional.
- What Are the 5 Goals of Criminal Sentencing?
Criminal sentences serve five goals: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and restitution, and federal judges must weigh them in every case.
- The Property Is Gone. Can the Government Take Something Else?
Often, yes: if the property tied to the crime is gone because of what the defendant did, the government can take other property or money of equal value.
- Can a Forfeiture Be an Excessive Fine? The Eighth Amendment and Timbs
Yes. A forfeiture that is grossly out of proportion to the crime can violate the Eighth Amendment, and since Timbs v. Indiana that limit applies to the states too.
- How to Get a Federal Sentence Reduced: Appeals, Resentencing and Other Paths
A federal sentence can sometimes be reduced after it is imposed, through an appeal and resentencing, compassionate release, a retroactive guideline change, or cooperation.
- Does Restitution Cover a Victim's Private Investigation Costs? Not After Lagos
No. In Lagos v. United States, the Supreme Court held that this part of the restitution law covers only government investigations and criminal cases.
- Can a Judge Fine You Far Above the Guidelines for Tax Evasion?
Yes. In United States v. Zukerman, the Second Circuit upheld a $10 million tax evasion fine when the Guidelines range topped out at $250,000.
- Restitution in a Federal Tax Case: Can You Challenge the Amount?
You usually cannot avoid restitution after a conviction, but you can challenge the amount, and you get credit for tax the IRS later collects from others.
- What Do Sentencing Terms Like Concurrent and Consecutive Mean?
A concurrent sentence is served at the same time as another; a consecutive one starts after the first ends. Here are those and other sentencing terms in plain English.
- Does a Traffic Stop Count as an Arrest for Your Criminal History Score?
In the Third Circuit and several others, no: a traffic stop that ends with a summons is not an intervening arrest, so two prior sentences may count as one.