Thinking About Corrections : Sentencing

One in 11 Prisoners Serving Life Sentences

jgustfsn — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:41:00 GMT

A new report released by The Sentencing Project finds a record 140,610 individuals are now serving life sentences in state and federal prisons, 6,807 of whom were juveniles at the time of the crime. In addition, 29% of persons serving a life sentence (41,095) have no possibility of parole, and 1,755 were juveniles at the time of the crime. No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America represents the first nationwide collection of life sentence data documenting race, ethnicity and gender.

Sex Offender Registration Update

CC Pro — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:04:00 GMT

The Office of Justice Programs' Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) has posted the most recent addition to the Sex Offender Registration Law Update series.

State Sentencing and Corrections Legislation

CC Pro — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:17:00 GMT

The National Conference of State Legislatures has published a report that examines state legislative actions during 2007, the elements that drove these actions, and the potential impact of sentencing and corrections in the near term. Principal legislative concerns were/are burgeoning prison populations and the accompanying budget growth. Measures passed to address prison construction and operating costs, reducing recidivism, and increasing the efficacy of correctional systems without compromising public safety include:

Expanding community corrections;
Managing probation and parole violators;
Boosting incentives for good behavior;
Preparing inmates for reentry; and
Linking released offenders to community support.

How Are the States Coping?

Eileen Conway — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:37:00 GMT

In an era of budget shortages and policy reconsiderations, the Sentencing Project has produced a summary document of state criminal justice policy reforms and legislation, The State of Sentencing 2007: Developments in Policy and Practice. Stateline.org has further summarized the findings in a Top Story today.

U.S.Sentencing Commission Revisits Crack Cocaine Sentencing

CC Pro — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:50:00 GMT

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal prison sentences, voted unanimously "to allow some 19,500 federal prison inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack cocaine sentences." Eligible inmates would receive no more than a two-year reduction. While the commission has made this recommendation, federal judges will have the final word on any sentence reductions. Further information here and here.

Supreme Court to Examine Sentencing Disparities Between Crack & Powder Cocaine

CC Pro — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:15:00 GMT

The Supreme Court has decided "to review whether judges are required to impose dramatically longer sentences for crack cocaine than for cocaine powder, stepping into a long-running dispute with racial overtones." Article here.

California's Sentencing Law Struck Down

Eileen Conway — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:53:00 GMT

In a ruling that could affect current state inmate sentences, the United States Supreme Court today found that California's determinant sentencing law violates a defendant's right to trial by jury. In Cunningham v. California, the Supreme Court repeated its prior finding that juries, not judges, must be the source of lengthened sentences.