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Full-Text Articles in Law
Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan
Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan
Seattle University Law Review
The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …
A Call To Abolish Determinate-Plus Sentencing In Washington, Rachel Stenberg
A Call To Abolish Determinate-Plus Sentencing In Washington, Rachel Stenberg
Washington Law Review
For certain incarcerated individuals who commit sex offenses, Washington State’s determinate-plus sentencing structure requires a showing of rehabilitation before release. This highly subjective “releasability” determination occurs after an individual has already served a standard sentence. A review of recent releasability determinations reveals sentences are often extended on arbitrary and inconsistent grounds—especially for individuals who face systemic challenges in prison due to their identity or condition. This Comment shows that the criteria to determine whether individuals are releasable is an incomplete picture of their actual experience in the carceral setting, using the distinct example of incarcerated individuals with mental illness. While …
Expanding Judicial Discretion To Grant Compassionate Release During Covid-19, Deborah Wang
Expanding Judicial Discretion To Grant Compassionate Release During Covid-19, Deborah Wang
Washington Law Review
In the 1980s, Congress introduced compassionate release to counteract the increased rigidity of our federal sentencing system. This mechanism allowed courts, through a motion filed by the Bureau of Prison’s director, to reduce a prisoner’s sentence if “extraordinary and compelling” circumstances warrant such a reduction. However, because the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) seldom brought these motions, few people were released early via compassionate release. At the same time, public discourse and concerns regarding mass incarceration have continued to grow, causing lawmakers to revisit and revise compassionate release through the First Step Act of 2018 to ensure that this mechanism’s potential …
Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse
Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse
St. Mary's Law Journal
The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …
Deterrence, David Crump
Victimhood & Agency: How Taking Charge Takes Its Toll, Pam A. Mueller
Victimhood & Agency: How Taking Charge Takes Its Toll, Pam A. Mueller
Pepperdine Law Review
This Article addresses an unexplored tension in the civil justice system regarding victims. The goal of the civil system is to make victims whole. We can, as is most common, attempt to do this financially, or we can consider psychological research that suggests there may be other ways of restoring victims’ statuses. One of the most common nonfinancial solutions is to increase victim participation in the justice process. This is a solution that appeals to many victims and may benefit them psychologically. However, by increasing their participation, they may unknowingly trade off some of the benefits of victimhood. For instance, …
Pain And Suffering Guidelines: A Cure For Damages Measurement "Anomie", Frederick S. Levin
Pain And Suffering Guidelines: A Cure For Damages Measurement "Anomie", Frederick S. Levin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note argues that adapting the criminal sentencing guidelines systems in use in several states to the personal injury context would provide appropriate standards for measuring pain and suffering damages. Part I explores why present methods for measuring pain and suffering are objectionable. A description of the proposed method for developing guidelines is provided in Part II. Part II explores the use of guidelines in criminal sentencing and the analogy between sentencing decisions and assessment of damages for nonpecuniary loss. Part II also describes how to develop and implement guidelines for assessing pain and suffering damages. Part III examines why …
Recent Cases, Theodore Brown, Jr., Janet R. Necessary
Recent Cases, Theodore Brown, Jr., Janet R. Necessary
Vanderbilt Law Review
Responding to an increase in the number of habeas corpus petitions filed by federal prisoners in the district courts whose jurisdictions included federal prisons,, Congress in 1948 enacted 28 U.S.C. § 2255.1 The statute's purpose is to provide federal prisoners with an expeditious remedy for correcting erroneous sentencing without resort to habeas corpus.' In an effort to restrict the number of evidentiary hearings required, section 2255 provides for denial of petitions in which the motion, files, and records of the case conclusively demonstrate that the prisoner is entitled to no relief." Since approximately two-thirds of all federal criminal prosecutions are …