Law Commons^™

Taking Another Look At Second-Look Sentencing, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A historically unprecedented number of Americans are currently behind bars. Our high rate of incarceration, and the high bills that it generates for American taxpayers, has led to a number of proposals for sentencing reform. For example, bills were recently introduced in both the House and Senate that would roll back federal mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenders, and the Obama Administration has announced a plan to grant clemency to hundreds of non-violent drug offenders. Perhaps the most revolutionary proposal, though, is one advanced by the drafters of the Model Penal Code, namely that judges be given the power …

Sentencing Complexities In National Security Cases, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Military national security courts-martial infrequently occur. When they do occur, military counsel, judges, and court personnel endeavor to perform their function at a high level. Unfortunately, the process by which the U.S. government conducts classification reviews and the military’s inexperience in national security cases often results in the form of safeguarding classified information trumping the substantive function of the underlying trial process. And by the time the sentencing phase is reached, understandable but unfortunate focus is placed on simply concluding the trial without mishandling classified information.

This article examines the sentencing complexities in military national security cases, first defining a …

Sentencing Complexities In National Security Cases, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Military national security courts-martial infrequently occur. When they do occur, military counsel, judges, and court personnel endeavor to perform their function at a high level. Unfortunately, the process by which the U.S. government conducts classification reviews and the military’s inexperience in national security cases often results in the form of safeguarding classified information trumping the substantive function of the underlying trial process. And by the time the sentencing phase is reached, understandable but unfortunate focus is placed on simply concluding the trial without mishandling classified information.

This article examines the sentencing complexities in military national security cases, first defining a …

Science And The New Rehabilitation, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Rehabilitation’s making a comeback. Long thought to be an outdated approach to punishment, rehabilitation is reemerging in the wake of scientific advances. Not only have these advances in the fields of pharmacology, genetics, and neuroscience brought new rehabilitative possibilities, but the media’s communication of these advances to the general public have set the stage for rehabilitation’s reprise. The media constantly pummels the general public with reports of scientific breakthroughs like functional magnetic resonance imaging, prepping the public to be more accepting of deterministic viewpoints and to be more open to the possibility of transforming individuals. The rehabilitation that is emerging, …