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Rounding up some more notable recent criminal justice reads at the start the new year

By Douglas Berman

January 16, 2022

Though the new year is now just two week old, I have seen more than two weeks worth of interesting reads that I have not had a chance to blog about. I did a round up last Sunday here, but here are a bunch more pieces worth checking out: From the Christian Science Monitor, “A step toward better justice: Prying open the ‘black box’ of plea deals“ From the Collateral Consequences Resource…

Sentencing Law and Policy

"A Call to Reform Federal Solitary Confinement"

By Douglas Berman

January 13, 2022

The title of this post is the title of this effective new report authored by Ilanit Turner and Noelle Collins with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Here is part of its executive summary (with cited removed): Federal solitary confinement is in desperate need of repair. After a 40-year spike in federal incarceration rates beginning in 1980 has tapered off, a bipartisan consensus for solitary confinement reform is finally starting to crystallize. What was once considered…

Sentencing Law and Policy

"Compassionate Release as Compassionate Decarceration: State Influence on Federal Compassionate Release and the Unfinished Federal Reform"

By Douglas Berman

January 12, 2022

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Chun Hin Jeffrey Tsoi now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract: The First Step Act’s (FSA) compassionate release reform was a “modest but necessary” step; the pandemic and the threat it posed to the incarcerated population ought to prompt reflections on what the next steps should be. This Essay is intended to serve as both a brief historical review of…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Still more data linking recent surge in gun sales to recent surge in murders

By Douglas Berman

January 11, 2022

This new Atlantic piece, authored by Jeff Asher and Rob Arthur, provides yet another set of data points detailing the possible connection between an increase in gun purchases and a consequent increase in murders. The piece’s full title summarizes its themes: “The Data Are Pointing to One Major Driver of America’s Murder Spike: A massive increase in gun sales in early 2020 seems to have contributed to the recent rise in homicides.” Here are…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Advocacy groups giving poor first-year grades to Prez Biden on criminal justice reform

By Douglas Berman

January 11, 2022

This new Law360 piece, headlined “At 1-Year Mark, Groups Discontent With Biden Justice Reform,” reports on an interesting effort to “grade” the Biden Administration for its criminal justice record at the end of its first year. I recommend the piece in full, and here are excerpts: President Joe Biden’s progress on criminal justice reform after nearly one year in office has dissatisfied some advocacy leaders who were once hopeful that the president would prioritize…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Rounding up some notable Sunday criminal justice reads

By Douglas Berman

January 10, 2022

In recent days, I have seen an assortment of interesting criminal justice pieces on an assortment of topics. Here is a round up, with full headlines to provide a big of a preview: From The Atlantic, “Justice Reformers Need to Update Their Priors: As a long decline in murder rates reverses, proponents of draconian law enforcement shouldn’t be allowed to monopolize the discussion.” From The Guardian, “The racist 1890 law that’s still …

Sentencing Law and Policy

Head of federal Bureau of Prisons has resigned (though will stay on pending a successor)

By Douglas Berman

January 6, 2022

As reported in this new AP piece: “The director of the federal Bureau of Prisons is resigning amid increasing scrutiny over his leadership in the wake of Associated Press reporting that uncovered widespread problems at the agency, including a recent story detailing serious misconduct involving correctional officers.” Here is more: Michael Carvajal, a Trump administration holdover who’s been at the center of myriad crises within the federal prison system, has told Attorney General Merrick…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Highlighting the challenging issues of implementing the FIRST STEP Act's earned time credits

By Douglas Berman

January 5, 2022

Walter Pavlo has this extended new Forbes piece detailing some of the nettlesome issues that surround implementation of various parts of the FIRST STEP Act. The piece is headlined “Implementation Of The Criminal Justice Reform Law, First Step Act, Will Likely End Up In Court,” and here are excerpts: President Donald Trump signed one of the most sweeping criminal justice reform laws, The First Step Act (FSA), into law on December 21, 2018. Since then,…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Senator Cotton criticizes new OLC opinion on CARES home confinement and asks AG Garland lots of follow-up questions

By Douglas Berman

January 4, 2022

Though the season of the Grinch may be over, US Senator Tom Cotton is starting the new year full of grinchy grouchiness about various criminal justice issues. I noted here his recent foolish op-ed fretting about a “jailbreak” and an “under-incarceration crisis,” and now a helpful colleague made sure I did not miss this press release from the Senator’s office titled “Cotton Demands Answers from DOJ About Releasing Criminals to Home Confinement.” Here is how…

Sentencing Law and Policy

Senator Cotton leans into political foolishness rather than serious policy issues in latest "jailbreak" commentary

By Douglas Berman

January 3, 2022

Senator Tom Cotton is always eager to provide a “tough-and-tougher” perspective on criminal justice issues, and he has long responded to advocacy against mass incarceration by claiming that the US actually has an “under-incarceration problem.” Some time ago, I was described at least some of his takes on criminal justice issues as at least somewhat thoughtful, but more recently it seems Senator Cotton has been content to make op-ed claims which are quite suspect…

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