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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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…
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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…
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I am sorry we did not have more time to allow Kevin Stanek, the Assistant Chief Counsel for Ohio Governor John Kasich, to complete his tales about Ohio's fulsome history with lethal injection litigation. But I trust you all got a flavor of some of the major themes I consider most important for our broader class's purposes:…
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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…
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As I mentioned in class, some years ago Professors Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule produced a provocative article suggesting that new deterrence evidence might make the death penalty morally required for state actors seriously concerned with value of life. Here is a link to this article and its abstract, with one line stressed to pick up…
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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…
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This new BuzzFeed News article, headlined "Prosecutors Want To Limit Dylann Roof’s Use Of A “Mercy” Defense," provides an effective summary of this interesting motion filed by prosecutors in a high profile federal capital case. Especially because we will be jumping into the history, law and practice of capital punishment next week, I recommend everyone…
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here is a link to the 400+ page report that the US Sentencing Commission published on the topic in December 2012. The report's executive summary is only about a couple dozen pages, can be accessed at this link, and here are some interesting excerpts: [S]entencing data indicate that a growing number of courts believe that…
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As mentioned in class on Wednesday, and as detailed in this official notice, the US Sentencing Commission has a public meeting scheduled for April 9, 2015, at 1:00 pm (which is to be live-streamed here). The big agenda item of note for the meeting is the "Vote to Promulgate Proposed Amendments," and the most consequential amendments being…
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Much to my chagrin, I fear this week our class will only be able to meet on Wednesday (4/8), and I fear that much of that class will involve going over current events and making sure the last few weeks of class are productive. To that end, I have two potential projects for students to…
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As you should recall, we ended class on Thursday with a working draft proposal for new drunk-driving legislation. Here is what has made it through our drafting committee so far: First Offense DUI: imprisonment from minimum term of zero to five years max Second Offense DUI: imprisonment from minimum term of six month to seven years max…
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I hope everyone enjoyed Spring Break as much as I did and also that everyone is looking forward to an exciting final month of our sentencing class. This post provides a couple of reminders about on-going activities as well as some updates that might be of interest as we close out March sentencing madness: 1. Everyone…
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To paraphrase the most memorable line from the least memorable Godfather movie, just when I thought we could be done with our discussions of the death penalty and who sentences, the media and the US Supreme Court keep pulling us back in. Specifically, check out these recent notable posts from my main blog: SCOTUS finally…
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We will talk on Thursday about the experience of sentencing Rob Anon under the pre-reform discretionary federal sentencing system, but I wanted to start the process of reflection on the pre-reform system with this post and a place for comments. Did your experience strengthen your understanding for Judge Frankel's concerns and call for reform? What…
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check out what new Pennsylvania Gov Tom Wolf did on Friday the 13th. Turns out it was a lucky day for those on death row in the state. Thoughts? The Marshall Hypothesis as applied by a Governor?
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As mentioned in class, this week and next our class discussions will migrate from the basics of modern capital sentencing to the basics of modern non-capital sentencing. And, as the Coker and Kennedy cases highlight, all modern capital cases now involve only the crime of murder even though any number of sex offenses often lead legislatures…
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This morning (Feb 4, 2015), the Ohio Supreme Court heard argument in Ohio v. Moore to examine whether the SCOTUS 2010 Graham ruling declaring unconstitutional LWOP for juvenile non-homicide offenses should apply to a lengthy term-of-year sentence. The Justices asked many questions of both sides, and I believe only one of the seven Justices failed…
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Students should recall the class-preview post in which I noted two notable on-going cases concerning the Supreme Court's modern Eighth Amendment jurisprudence limiting the imposition of life without parole sentences on juvenile offenders. The end of last week and this coming week involve developments on this front: Late last week, as reported in this post from…
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As mentioned in class, one class activity for the coming week(s) will be to work through how modern post-Furman capital punishment laws might get applied to the (in)famous Unibomber, Ted Kaczynski. (Ted is currently an LWOP resident at superman ADX Florence in Colorado and in the past was comically portrayed by Will Farrell). I will not…
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With apologies for (once again) lecturing too much and running late, I hope that I was able in Tuesday's class to effectively lay out some of the basics of what I call the "Three Ds" of modern sentencing debates: Discretion, Disparity and Discrimination. I got a bit behind because I was not planning to talk about Presidential clemency powers; but…
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In our last few classes, I want to wrap up our discussions of modern federal drug sentencing by turning attention to the work of the most powerful of sentencing "whos": the President of the United States. There are lots of ways the President can and does make sentencing decisions, but the most historic means is…
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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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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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After a final review of what we should take away from the McClesky ruling, we will turn for our last week of death penalty discussion to the Supreme Court's Eighth Amendment jurisprudence which places categorical limits on what crimes cannot result in capital sentence and what criminals can not be executed for their crimes. Here,…
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The title of this post is the final senitment expressed by Gus L. in conjunction with the terrific comment discussion that is now energized in response to this post noting Washington Governor Jay Inslee's remarkable decision to take his state's death penalty into his own hands by declaring a moratorium on executions while he serves as Governor.…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 