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?
about
Category: Class activities
-
Even though March has just gotten started, it will be April before you know it, and I wanted to make sure everyone know of some class schedule issues of importance for the first part of April. Some of this I have mentioned in class, but some of this is new news (and would be helped…
-
This final week before Spring Break, we will be diving even deeper into the sentencing of Rob Anon under the modern federal sentencing guidelines. I continue to welcome comments to this prior post if/when you want to discuss your experiences with guideline sentencing, though I also welcome new comments here as I reprint the US Sentencing Commission's latest…
-
Starting with Wednesday's class, we will start unpacking the sentencing of Rob Anon under the modern federal sentencing guidelines. I welcome comments to this prior post if/when you want to discuss your experiences with guideline sentencing. This post, however, is meant to wrap up our pre-guideline sentencing experiences with the help of this interesting 1986 US Government Accounting…
-
As mentioned in class, mini-paper #3 provides you an opportunity to explore federal sentencing realities surrounding a federal defendant of your choice. Continuing a series of posts providing suggestions about possible federal defendants you might consider examining for mini-paper #3, below are some links to some Sixth Circuit opinions all from the first two months…
-
As stressed in class last week, the next two weeks are going to involve detailed discussions of federal sentencing policies and practice before and after modern guideline reforms. We will begin on Monday with a deep discussion of the sentencing realities faced in sentencing Rob Anon in a pre-guideline world (the world Judge Marvin Frankel…
-
As mentioned in class, mini-paper #3 provides you an opportunity to explore federal sentencing realities surrounding a federal defendant of your choice. Continuing a series of posts providing a suggestions about possible federal defendants you might consider examining for mini-paper #3, here are some links to posts from my main blog from the last few…
-
As mentioned in class, mini-paper #3 provides you an opportunity to explore federal sentencing realities surrounding a federal defendant of your choice. In a series of posts, I will be providing a series of suggestions about possible federal defendants you might consider examining for mini-paper #3. In this post, for example, I thought it worth…
-
We discussed in class today some of the dynamics sure to surround a possible capital prosecution of Quentin Smith, the suspect charged with killing two Westerville police officers over the weekend. Against that backdrop, I found notable this new local article headlined "The death penalty: Is it cheaper? Why does it take so long from sentencing…
-
As I have repeatedly mentioned in class, we will be exploring in our next few classes how Florida, Texas and Ohio capital sentencing laws help guide jury death sentencing discretion for the Unibomber (and others). The essentials for preparation appear at pp. 252 to 257 of our text, though you also need to check out two Ohio statutory…
-
Because we have been moving (usefully) slowly through our discussion of capital constitutional history, I want to make sure everyone is sure about what I expect/hope to cover over the next few weeks: Week of Feb 5: We will finish up a discussion of Furman/Gregg/Woodson/Roberts which help explain/define modern DP realities and we will explore how Florida, Texas…
-
are worth reading in full if you final constitutional history and/or death penalty procedure really interesting. 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 throughout next week's discussion. The full Furman…
-
Next week we will continue to discuss the Williams case in order to continue to unpack the relationship between theories of punishment and the "who" and "how" of sentencing. And, before we wrap up our Williams discussion, I will review what doctrines from Williams remain good law and what do not. That discussion may lead…
-
As we transition to a discussion of the "who" and "how" of sentencing — beginning with a deep dive into the 1949 case Williams v. New York — you should be giving particular thought to how a sentencing system can and should integrate its basic "why punish" commitments into its sentencing process. You should see how the Williams ruling was…
-
This blog got started over 10 years ago (with the uninspired title of Death Penalty Course @ Moritz College of Law) to facilitate student engagement in a Spring 2007 course on the death penalty. Because the blog proved successful during that semester, and because the students' hard work as reflected in the archives still generates…
-
As explained in this prior post, an essential element of completing our course for credit is the submission of at least two mini papers, and the due date for these papers is the start of this coming week. ANy student struggling to meet this requirement should contact me ASAP. With mini-papers now being wrapped up,…
-
In a coming post, I will try to clarify any lingering questions students have about completing the final paper. But as classes technically are not yet done, I want to first clarify student mini-paper opportunities/expectations. First, to complete the course is a satisfactory manner, a student has to have submitted at least two mini-papers. (If…
-
As I mentioned in class today, our coming exploration of the federal sentencing system will be based in part on using the real-world "Bridgegate" case into a real-world sentencing exercise. To get started in preparation to that end, I recommend some review of at least the following two links: This Wikipedia page, titled "Fort Lee lane…
-
I have been quite amused to see these two headlines on two notable commentaries published since our last class: Should 25-Year-Olds Be Tried as Juveniles?: Science — and law enforcement — are rethinking what it means to be an adult. Let children vote. Even 13-year-olds: Kids deserve a say too. The first of these articles…
-
In this post earlier this month, I flagged a number of "who sentences" stories relating to the death penalty on my Sentencing Law & Policy blog. Here is now a similar round up of some recent non-capital sentencing stories and commentaries that provide some more "who" perspectives: GOP Gov explains how sentencing reform has "Georgia's…
-
As I mentioned in class, as we turn our attention more to the history and modern realities of non-capital sentencing and especially to the history and modern realities of incarceration, having a basic understanding of a lot of number becomes important. The title of this post is designed to make sure, before you dive too…
-
One of my all-time favorite documents in the history of US sentencing law and policy is this document authored by Thomas Jefferson in 1778 under the title "A Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments in Cases Heretofore Capital." I recommend a read of the entire document (as well as this historical discussion of its backstory and its…
-
As I surmise you could tell from the last few classes, I am not at all troubled that our discussions of how Teddy K.'s capital case might play out in states like Florida and Texas has gone on longer than I had initially planned. I am hopeful you were able to get a real feel from…
-
As promised, these are fun to check out: Ted Kaczynski Meets His Lawyers Ted Kaczynski's Class Reunion Ted Kaczynski Wants to Represent Himself Nightline: Deep Blue Has Cornered Mankind
-
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 throughout next week's discussion. I also think everyone should at least get started reading Furman and Gregg and subsequent SCOTUS cases in chapter 3 of our…
-
Conveniently, my week away proved to be a period in which some interesting local death penalty news and commentary emerged, as evidence by these two recent posts from my main blog: Former GOP Ohio Attorney General explains why he is convinced "the death penalty is just not worth it any more" Is Ohio again about…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 