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Sentencing

Selected Works

Criminology

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Humane Punishment For Seriously Disordered Offenders: Sentencing Departures And Judicial Control Over Conditions Of Confinement, E. Lea Johnston Oct 2014

Humane Punishment For Seriously Disordered Offenders: Sentencing Departures And Judicial Control Over Conditions Of Confinement, E. Lea Johnston

E. Lea Johnston

At sentencing, a judge may foresee that an individual with a major mental disorder will experience serious psychological or physical harm in prison. In light of this reality and offenders’ other potential vulnerabilities, a number of jurisdictions currently allow judges to treat undue offender hardship as a mitigating factor at sentencing. In these jurisdictions, vulnerability to harm may militate toward an order of probation or a reduced term of confinement. Since these measures do not affect offenders’ day-to-day experience in confinement, these expressions of mitigation fail to protect adequately those vulnerable offenders who must serve time in prison. This Article …


Vulnerability And Just Desert: A Theory Of Sentencing And Mental Illness, E. Lea Johnston Oct 2014

Vulnerability And Just Desert: A Theory Of Sentencing And Mental Illness, E. Lea Johnston

E. Lea Johnston

This Article analyzes risks of serious harms posed to prisoners with major mental disorders and investigates their import for sentencing under a just deserts analysis. Drawing upon social science research, the Article first establishes that offenders with serious mental illnesses are more likely than non-ill offenders to suffer physical and sexual assaults, endure housing in solitary confinement, and experience psychological deterioration during their carceral terms. The Article then explores the significance of this differential impact for sentencing within a retributive framework. It first suggests a particular expressive understanding of punishment, capacious enough to encompass foreseeable, substantial risks of serious harm …


The Eleventh Circuit's Selective Assault On Sentencing Discretion, Adam Shajnfeld Jan 2011

The Eleventh Circuit's Selective Assault On Sentencing Discretion, Adam Shajnfeld

Adam Shajnfeld

Ever since the Supreme Court declared that the sentences which district courts impose on criminal defendants are to be reviewed on appeal for “unreasonableness,” the standard’s contours have remained elusive and mired in controversy, despite the Court’s repeated attempts at elucidation. In few instances is this confounding state of affairs more apparent and acute than in the Eleventh Circuit’s recent lengthy and factious en banc decision in United States v. Irey. This article explores Irey’s merits, mistakes, and lessons, trying to locate each within the broader context of the Eleventh Circuit’s sentencing jurisprudence. In doing so, the article advances three …


Jamais Deux Sans Trois: Principes Régissant Les Effets De La Récidive Sur La Peine Et La Libération Conditionnelle Dans Les Codes Pénaux Européens (French), Sacha Raoult Dec 2006

Jamais Deux Sans Trois: Principes Régissant Les Effets De La Récidive Sur La Peine Et La Libération Conditionnelle Dans Les Codes Pénaux Européens (French), Sacha Raoult

Sacha Raoult

This paper examines the general principles that guide the classical treatment of an offender's dangerousness in the criminal codes of sixteen European countries. It provides a review of the way in which each penal code deals with both multiple offenders and the terms of parole. There is substantial variety in the legal definitions and effect of recidivism, with some very strict criteria in place in some states. The same various degree of arbitrariness and lack of clear standards apply to the terms of parole. Though arbitrariness in the administering of these legal categories is common throughout Europe, it can be …