Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law
A new home for an old class blog
recent posts
- Anyone have any distinct views on who Joe Biden should pick as US Attorney General?
- What data in the federal system would indicate the Biden Administration is drawing down the federal drug war?
- A final (too brief) foray into what metrics and data matter for assessing a sentencing system
- Reactions to our look behind the robes with federal sentencing judges?
- Are there any “offender characteristics” that you think must be considered at sentencing? If so, how?
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Category: Class activities
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With the news that Ohio State has now suspended face-to-face instruction and is moving to virtual instruction through at least Monday, March 30, I am eager to hear from those students who still need to make their clemency presentations about how best to move forward (recalling my mantra of low stress/high learning). Here are some…
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Just a reminder to everyone that, as we start the first week of student presentations, we will be going back to meeting in Room 348. I look forward to seeing everyone there no later than 4pm so we have adequate time for the scheduled presentations. Meanwhile, I assume all clemency fans have been seeing some…
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Our last class of general discussion (before we turn to student presentations) will focus on the ground-breaking and controversial clemency activity during the final years of the Obama Administration. I handed out in class last week this basic web review of the initiative as described by the US Department of Justice. Among many topics I…
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In class this week, we will finish up discussing Woodard's account of what the Constitution demands (and does not demand) in the form of required process for those seeking clemency. And then, as mentioned at the end of last class, I want us to explore various visions of what we might view as an ideal…
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Though I hope you have had a chance to review the cases distributed last week — Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272 (1998) and Ohio v. Boykin, 138 Ohio St. 3d 97 (2013) — I expect that we will spend the bulk of out time in class discussing Woodard's rulings about what the Constitution…
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As mentioned in class and in this post, this week everyone should be prepared to share their (tentative) plans for their class presentation. In turn, it is now time to start figuring out a (tentative) schedule for these presentations. If we want to schedule 3 or 4 presentations per week, we will need four class…
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As promised, here are links to the full articles that were passed around in partial hard-copy form in class today: William F. Duker, The President’s Power to Pardon: A Constitutional History, 18 WM. & MARY L. REV. 475 (1977) Daniel T. Kobil, Do the Paperwork or Die: Clemency, Ohio Style?, 52 OHIO ST. L.J. 655…
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I have reviewed my inbox and files to check my records on how many mini-papers I have so far received from each student. My current cumulative accounting has me with 45 total submissions to date, with the following particularity: Mini #1: What topic interests you and might be basis for final paper — 18 submissions…
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This recent USA Today article, headlined "'Undoing a mistake': Ken Burns film looks inside the push to bring college education back to prison," provides some important backstory on a notable new documentary about a notable prison education program in New York. I suspect the full documentary with be worth watching/streaming, and I think just the preview…
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Here are additional materials/links to follow up some matter discussed in class on Monday. First, here are links to unpublished materials from our casebook for those really eager to dig deep into alternatives: Electronic Chapter 8: Non-Prison Punishments (see pp. 119-139 for coverage of the SCOTUS case Padilla and related discussions of collateral consequences) Electronic…
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I am hoping you are as exited as I am for our special guest during our usual class time this afternoon. One way to gear up might be to come to the American Constitution Society's panel on Progressive Prosecution which just happens to be taking place this today at 12:10PM in Room 244. (I have…
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I missed seeing everyone this week at our usual Monday time, and I just waned to post this quick reminder that you should be sitting in on Professor Alex Kreit's class at our usual Wednesday time to hear him talk about sentencing drug crimes. I handed out the Chapman case from his casebook last week,…
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The FIRST STEP Act, which is fully titled the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, was signed by President Donald Trump into law on December 21, 2018. Many have rightly called this law the biggest federal criminal justice reform legislation in a generation, and yet others have rightly called this law…
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Just a quick post to remind you we do not have class this Monday, but we will make up for lost time on Wednesday by jumping into our review of the federal sentencing system. So get started on the readings from the syllabus, and get excited about coming discussions about the operation of the federal…
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Many thanks to the whole class for your terrific engagement with David Singleton in today's class. I trust you enjoyed as much as I did hearing a lot from him (and not so much from me). And, as we discussion, the issue of "second look" sentencing mechanisms in Ohio and elsewhere is a hot topic. …
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As I have mentioned in class, we will be exploring in coming classes how Florida, Texas and Ohio capital sentencing laws help guide jury death sentencing discretion for the Unibomber, Ted Kaczynski. You should imagine yourself preparing for getting a jury to recommend a life sentence rather than a death sentence for Teddy K. The…
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are worth reading in full if you find constitutional history and/or death penalty procedure really interesting (and these are great topics for final papers). The full McGautha can be found here; reading just the majority opinion authored by Justice Harlan (which is only 1/4 of the whole thing) is encouraged, but not required, for having extra fun…
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As mentioned in our last class, we will start wrapping up our formal "who" unit by reviewing the latest, greatest Supreme Court sentencing case, United States v. Haymond, 139 S. Ct. 2369 (June 26, 2019). You are welcome to read Haymond in any form, and the full SCOTUS slip opinion can be accessed at this…
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I have now finally double- and triple-checked my various files to confirm my records on how many mini-papers I believe I received from each student. All 42 of you should be able to find you names on the spreadsheet uploaded here, and therein you will find an associated number for how many papers I have…
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As we finish up the semester with a final few classes examining the particulars of modern mass incarceration and possible alternatives, I realize it would be useful and fitting to return to some of the early themes of the class concerning the "why" and "who" of sentencing. Specifically (and building off themes stressed by Fordham Law…
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The question in the title of this post will be one I will be eager to unpack in coming classes, and it is inspired in part by the points emphasized in the Prison Policy Initiative updated version of its terrific incarceration "pie" graphic and report now at this link. Here is part of the PPI pie report's introductory…
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As repeatedly mentioned in class, Fordham Law Professor John Pfaff will be on campus this coming Thursday, April 12. At 4pm at the Barrister Club he will be delivering the Reckless-Dinitz Lecture titled "Moving Past the Standard Story: Rethinking the Causes of Mass Incarceration." Here is the abstract for this lecture: "Reducing America's exceptional reliance…
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On April 2, Zachary Bolitho, Moritz class of 2007 who now serves as Deputy Chief of Staff and Associate Deputy Attorney General to the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, will be speaking to our class. As mentioned in class, here is how he would like all of us to prepare for his visit: In terms of reading,…
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As highlighted in previous posts, on April 2, Zachary Bolitho, Moritz class of 2007 who now serves as Deputy Chief of Staff and Associate Deputy Attorney General to the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, will be speaking to our class. As repeatedly mentioned, and as shown at the end of this list of US Sentencing Commissioners, Zachary…
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I am looking forward to getting back to our discussion of federal sentencing realities this coming week, and I expect on Monday (3/19) to get us finally into a discussion of "acquitted conduct" and the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148 (1997). But before we get together, I want to…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 