Law Commons^™

Important Is Not Important Enough: Forcibly Medicating Defendants For Sentencing Using The Important Interest Standard, Sarah Viebrock

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note analyzes whether the Government’s interest in sentencing is the same as its interest in trial, and whether the “important interest” standard is a high enough threshold for the Government when it seeks to forcibly medicate a defendant for sentencing. This Note will conclude that because of the procedural alternatives to forcible medication at sentencing, the functional differences between trial and sentencing, and the spirit of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sell, the Government should be required to demonstrate a compelling, rather than an important, interest when it seeks to forcibly medicate a defendant for sentencing.

Part …

Let The Judge Speak: Reconsidering The Role Of Rehabilitation In Federal Sentencing, Madeline W. Goralski

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note contends that the importance of rehabilitation as a valid and necessary principle of punishment is overlooked in § 3582(a) of the SRA and further argues that a judge should be permitted to consider rehabilitation when deciding to sentence a defendant to a term of imprisonment, so long as rehabilitation is not a dominant factor in coming to that decision. Part I outlines the principles of punishment and the rise and decline of the rehabilitative system of punishment in the United States. It also discusses the importance of rehabilitation and how society could benefit from a system that …