In this post back in August I wondered "Could enhanced FIRST STEP Act get more than 90 votes in the Senate if even brought up for a vote?". Well, it seems I was off by three
votes, as tonight the the US Senate voted 87 to 12 to enact the FIRST STEP Act. With a vote in the House scheduled for later this week, this bill should be on Prez [...]
I am so full of ideas and thoughts and ways to celebrate the Senate passage of the FIRST STEP Act, I am not sure what to blog first and in the immediate future. So, rather
than do too much looking forward to what the FIRST STEP Act means when it becomes law (especially because I do not want to jinx anything), I figured I would close [...]
Michael S. Pardo (University of Alabama School of Law) has posted The Paradoxes of Legal Proof: A Critical Guide (Boston University Law Review, Vol. 99, 2019) on SSRN. Here
is the abstract: For several decades, a variety of paradoxes have... [...]
Ames Grawert and and Cameron Kimble at The Brennan Center have produced this new report titled "Crime in 2018: Updated Analysis." Here is how it gets started: In September,
the Brennan Center analyzed available crime data from the nation’s 30 largest cities, estimating that these cities would see a decline in crime and murder in 2018. [...]
Palma Paciocco (York University - Osgoode Hall Law School) has posted an abstract of Seeking Justice by Plea: The Prosecutor's Ethical Obligations During Plea Bargaining (63:1
McGill L.J. 45) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Canadian Crown prosecutors enjoy tremendous... [...]
Rudi Fortson (Queen Mary University of London) has posted Making Dishonesty Fit the Crime on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Statutory offences that require proof of dishonesty
have been enacted in England and Wales since 1968, and similarly, in other... [...]
A couple of helpful colleagues have already made sure I did not miss this local story of a Missouri sentencing. The press account is headlined "'Bambi' as punishment? Sentence
in SW Missouri poaching case includes mandated viewings," and here are the details: Four members of a southwest Missouri family have been caught in a multi-year [...]
Given that both the Special Prosecutor and Michael Flynn were advocating for him to receive a sentence without any incarceration, I thought his sentencing today could have
ended up being a staid affair. But, as reported in this BuzzFeed News account, US District Judge Emmet Sullivan had different ideas: Michael Flynn, Trump's former [...]
As reported in this article from The Hill, the "Senate advanced a White House-backed criminal justice reform bill on Monday, paving the way for senators to try to pass the
bill as early as Tuesday." Here is more on the vote and what comes next: Senators voted 82-12 to end debate on the legislation, which merges a House-passed prison [...]
The title of this post is the title of this new article by Eve Brensike Primus now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: State prisoners who file federal habeas corpus
petitions face a maze of procedural and substantive restrictions that effectively prevent almost all prisoners from obtaining meaningful review of their convictions. [...]
