The landmark 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roper v. Simmons banned capital punishment including life without parole for juveniles as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. At the time, 12 states banned capital punishment in all cases, and 18 more prohibited it for juveniles, while 72 juveniles were on Death Row in 12 states. In 2010, the high court […]
Category: Sentencing
Article: High Court Weighs Life Sentence for Underage Washington Sniper
In an early case during its new term, on October 16 the U.S. Supreme Court heard an appeal by Lee Boyd Malvo of the sentence of life without possibility of parole Virginia gave him in 2004 for his role in a series of lethal sniping attacks in the nation’s capital region during the autumn of […]
Article: California Prosecutors, Public Defenders Team to Toss Old Pot Convictions
UPDATE: Approved September 30, 208, California’s AB-1793 will resentence cannabis convictions and requiring the Department of Justice to review and provide prosecuting agencies with a list of cases that are eligible for recall or dismissal of sentence, dismissal and sealing, or redesignation. The prosecution has a year, until July 1, 2020, to review said cases […]
Article: The Bipartisan Federal Safe Justice Act, H.R. 2944
On June 25, a political odd couple of House Judiciary Committee members Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) joined to co-sponsor a far-reaching bill to revamp the nation’s criminal justice system: the Safe, Accountable, Fair and Effective (SAFE) Justice Act (H.R. 2944). The bill’s 37 other co-sponsors to date, evenly divided between the […]
Article: Would New Sentencing Guidelines Free Violent Felons?
The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees have warned Attorney General Loretta Lynch a fast-approaching retroactive reduction in sentencing guidelines for drug distribution and trafficking convictions will bring the release of thousands of federal inmates in a few months, potentially including those with extensive criminal records involving violent offenses including firearms violations, assault […]
Article: Federal Commission Revises Penalties for Fraud, Economic Crimes
The United States Sentencing Commission has recently sent Congress proposed changes to penalties for several classes of federal crimes, including major changes in recommended penalties for crimes of fraud and theft, and economic crimes, including antitrust or securities violations. One of Washington’s lesser-known agencies, the United States Sentencing Commission is part of the judicial branch. […]
Article: Report: Tougher Drug Sentences Produce Crowded Federal Prisons
Since 1980, the population of U.S. federal prisons has climbed nearly eightfold. A recent report by the Congressionally-created Task Force on Federal Corrections attributes most of the growth in federal prison populations to two factors, both related to drug-crime sentencing. First, drug offenders make up the lion’s share of those in federal prisons. At the […]