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: Who decides
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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 hope everyone has now had the chance to work through the sentencing of Rob Anon under the modern federal sentencing guidelines, perhaps with the help of some of the materials linked in this post). If you made an effort to do independent research in order to try to figure out how on your own…
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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 mentioned in class, on Wednesday October 2, we will have the pleasure of a visit from David A. Singleton, Executive Director and Attorney at Law at the Ohio Justice & Policy Center. (He will also be speaking at lunchtime in Drinko Hall 245 from 12-1pm on Oct 2.) Though there are many topics that…
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On Friday, as discussed in this post over at my main blog, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided to decline to exercise a form of extraordinary jurisdiction in order to avoid considering on the merits a challenge to the state's death penalty system. Among the many notable aspects of this story is who was arguing for…
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Next week, we will start the final part of our death penalty discussions by exploring the issue of race in the application of the death penalty. I (too briefly) mentioned in class some data on race and the death penalty, and I thought I would link to some resources related to this issue to get…
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As mentioned in this prior post, the Sixth Circuit panel ruling in In re Ohio Execution Protocol Litigation, No. 19-3064 (6th Cir. Sept 11, 2019) (available here), sets up the "next big question" of whether Ohio Gov DeWine will now be eager to move forward with the scheduled executions that he previously stayed. This local…
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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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I had no idea during our discussion on Wednesday of federal sentencing ranges for child pornography offenses that there would be a high-profile arrest in our own neighborhood on state charges involving this behavior just the next day. This local article, headlined "Ohio TV station's chief meteorologist charged with child pornography," provides these details (with…
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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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IN the next few weeks, we will be spending a lot of time discussing in various ways "who" plays a significant role in the sentencing process. We will start with some normative discussion of just who you think are the "whos" who should (and who should not) be the most significant players in the sentencing…
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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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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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We will wrap up our two-week sentencing of Rob Anon on Wednesday by noting the persistent discretion that still subsists within a federal sentencing system now filled with all sort of sentencing law. The most obvious locus of modern federal sentencing discretion, and the form that still garners the most attention, resulted from the Supreme Court's…
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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…
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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…
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Here is a list of (and links to) rulings by the Supreme Court declaring (or suggesting in the case of Tison v. Arizona) that the Eighth Amendment places substantive categorical limits on the application of the death penalty. Can you see a common thread or theme to these rulings? Crime: Rape: Coker v. Georgia,…
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As mentioned in class, there are many lessons to draw from our Unibomber capital sentencing exercise, so the start of our next class will be continuing our discussion of capital sentencing laws and their application in Florida, Texas and Ohio. One lesson we have already discussed in various ways in various settings is how many different…
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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…
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In many high-profile cases, one hears about a crime victim advocating for a particularly harsh sentencing outcome. But as I mentioned in class, there are plenty of example of a crime victim advocating for a more lenient sentencing outcome. One notable current example appears in this new posting via the Death Penalty Information Center in…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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are worth checking out if you are eager to think deeply about the future of Eighth Amendment limitations on extreme prison sentences. And here are links to the original SCOTUS slip opinions: Graham v. Florida (2010) (all 84-fun-loving-PDF-pages) Miller v. Alabama (2012) (all 62-fun-loving-PDF-pages)
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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…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 