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
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As discussed in our first class, one course requirement is for students to author and submit at least three mini-papers throughout the semester. Each of these mini-papers must be no more than two pages long, and the papers can be (1) thoughtful reflections on the prior two week's classes and readings, or (2) engaging discussions…
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As mentioned in my e-mail to the class, your only formal responsibility before the first week of classes is to completed the short questionnaire that I have now uploaded here are a word document: Download 2015 1st Class Survey As you will see from this document, you may want to (but need not) read pp.…
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Welcome to the FIFTH(!) re-launch of this blogging adventure. This blog started eight years ago (with the uninspired title of Death Penalty Course @ Moritz College of Law) to facilitate student engagement in the Spring 2007 course on the death penalty that I taught at OSU's Moritz College of Law. Though I closed this blog…
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Just a few brief reminders for everyone still wrapping up this course: 1. If you are writing a final paper, I would appreciate receiving BOTH a digital and a hard-copy before the end of this week. 2. If you are doing the take-home final, I think the computer system needs to have it completed by…
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Late last night, I received this invitation/inquiry via e-mail: Dear Professor Berman: My name is Elizabeth Hand, and I am writing on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh JURIST's Dateline service. JURIST is an ABA and Webby award-winning legal news service that reaches hundreds of thousands of readers weekly. JURIST has been cited 700 times in…
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Sadly (at least from my perspective) we only have three more weeks together before classes conclude on April 23. That means eight classes, and a mere 400 minutes, because we do not have class on Tuesday 4/15. (Fortunately, as I will explain in class, this week and next we can have some extra time together…
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As reported fully here and here via my main blog, after Bridezilla Jordan Graham failed in her effort to withdraw her plea based on prosecutors' sentencing arguments, she was sentenced to 365 months in federal prison for having pushed her new husband off a cliff. (Notably, the district judge at sentencing cited Graham's apparently lack…
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As I have mentioned, on Wednesday April 2, we will have the honor and pleasure of having Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, visit our class. For basic background on this renown jurist, check out his Wikipedia entry and/or this (dated) Unofficial Judge Alex Kozinski Site…
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As promised, here are links to the sentencing submission in US v. Graham (D. Montana): Defense sentencing memorandum for Jordan Linn Graham Prosecution sentencing memorandum for Jordan Linn Graham As I mentioned in class, I am VERY interest in having students review these submissions and then comment/opine about (1) what sentence they would give if…
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In this post from my main blog, titled "As a matter of law, policy and practice, what should be the 'offense' a sentencer considers?," I set out some ideas that I referenced in last Wednesday's class and that I am eager to review during our two classes this coming last full week of March. (Remember,…
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Monday's first post-break class will involve lots of catching up on events since our last gathering and lots of gearing up for our final six week of classes. It will help if everyone has already gone through the Rob Anon guideline sentencing experience, and having done so will be essential to getting the most out…
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Now that March Madness and baseball's spring training are finally in full swing (and golf season and The Masters are on the horizon), I am likely to be grumpy any and every Thursday and Friday afternoons for the next month if/whenever I am in my Moritz office working rather than over at Eddie's watching sports…
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I will be driving down to Cincy this Thursday morning in order to participate in oral arguments before the Sixth Circuit in US v. Young. Details about the case is available here at my main blog, and the arguments are slated third for session (as set forth on this calendar) scheduled to begin at 9am.…
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With apologies for the delay, I will through this post provide some hints and help for sentencing Rob Anon under the modern federal sentencing guidelines. I will begin with a few links to the "official" on-line version of the now-applicable US Sentencing Guidelines as provided on the US Sentencing Commission's website: Entire 2013 Federal Sentencing…
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everyone should be doing the first part (i.e., the first page) of the sentencing exercises ASAP: after reading (or even while reading) the Frankel excerpt and the notes that follow at the start of Chapter 3, everyone should imagine herself as a federal judge at the time of Judge Frankel and come up individually with…
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As mentioned in class, I am very eager to get as many folks as possible to watch the video about Eastern State Penitentiary and to learn more generally about the history of American prisons through that means. Ergo, I hope folks will use the comments below to identify afternoon times on Thursday and Friday afternoons…
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The issue presented to the Supreme Court in Hall v. Florida is "Whether the Florida scheme for identifying mentally retarded defendants in capital cases violates Atkins v. Virginia." Here are the top-side briefs: Brief of petitioner Freddie Lee Hall Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by Professors Adam Lamparello and Charles MacLean in…
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In addition to closely reviewing the 1949 Williams v. New York case (which can be read in full here and is worth the time to read in full), we will discuss in class next week which particular institutional players tend to exercise the most formal and informal sentencing power, and whether and how you think these institutional…
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I made reference to a lot of current events stories to follow at the start of class, in part because the development of these stories highlight how many distinct and distinctive "who"s play a role in criminal justice reforms and ultimately in the operation of modern sentencing systems. For example, the NFL can have a…
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My sincere apologies for failing to bring enough hard copies to today's class of the Class Questionnaire I would like completed (and submitted to me) by everyone ASAP. I have now uploaded a pdf of this document below for anyone who needs or wants this form electronically: Download 2014 1st Class Survey As suggested in…
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Welcome to the FOURTH re-launch of this blogging adventure. This blog started over seven years ago (with the uninspired title of Death Penalty Course @ Moritz College of Law) to facilitate student engagement in the Spring 2007 course on the death penalty that I taught at OSU's Moritz College of Law. Though I closed this…
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After having read the Miller and Jackson merits briefs, I did not find too many places where I thought tweaks of our working draft was needed. Nevertheless, I have now created a revised draft with all the latest suggested additions appearing, and that can be downloaded below. I am out of pocket most of today,…
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finally arrived in my in-box this morning. Here they are: Download Kuntrell Jackson USSC Brief 01-09-12 Download Evan Miller USSC Brief 01-09-12 UPDATE: The Jackson brief appears to have the most "action" of these two, though both are worth a close read as we think about how we might further refine our amicus. I hope…
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My efforts at making a mega-draft by stitching together pieces of the submitted amicus drafts created something of a Frankenstein monster: by seeking to preserve different parts of different texts, I produced an ugly creature that seemed unlikely to be able to do much good. Consequently, I turned to developing a detailed outline/draft that…
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I am making slow and steady progress on our collective amicus efforts (more slow than steady, but still progress is being made). I hope that no later than Tuesday to be able to post a full working draft of the document I am putting together. For now, I can start with this (too?) brief passage…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 