Douglas A. Berman | Lightnews

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 3d

Expanding on "capacious" vision of sentence reductions to remedy inequities sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/24/e...

Expanding on “capacious” vision of sentence reductions to remedy inequities

In this post a few weeks ago right after the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Fernandez v. United States and the consolidated cases of Rutherford v. United States and Carter v. United States, I …

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 9d

More "Jan 6" pardons from Prez Trump and lots more clemency commentary sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/m...

More “Jan 6” pardons from Prez Trump and lots more clemency commentary

I just saw this AP report detailing that Prez Trump has issued two new pardons related to Jan 6 defendants, and these serve to obviate litigation for a couple of individuals over the reach of the o…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 12d

"Firing squad executes South Carolina serial killer who wrote message with victim's blood" sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/f...

“Firing squad executes South Carolina serial killer who wrote message with victim’s blood”

I typically do not quote newspaper headlines when covering a sentencing story in the news, but the headline of this USA Today piece about the latest execution in the US is too evocative to resist. …

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 13d

New (double) Federal Sentencing Reporter issue examines "Artificial Intelligence and Risk Assessments in Criminal Justice" sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/n...

New (double) Federal Sentencing Reporter issue examines “Artificial Intelligence and Risk Assessments in Criminal Justice”

I am very pleased and very excited to report on the online publication of the latest (double) issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter titled “Artificial Intelligence and Risk Assessments in …

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 15d

Justices seem eager to concoct limits on grounds for sentencing reductions, but what new policy will they devise? sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/j...

Justices seem eager to concoct limits on grounds for sentencing reductions, but what new policy will they devise?

This morning, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Fernandez v. United States and the consolidated cases of Rutherford v. United States and Carter v. United States to explore certain limits on f…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 15d

New Sentencing Project report on "America’s Incarceration Crossroads: Reversing Progress Amid Record-Low Crime Rates" sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/n...

New Sentencing Project report on “America’s Incarceration Crossroads: Reversing Progress Amid Record-Low Crime Rates”

Via email I received notice that The Sentencing Project today released this notable new policy brief authored by Nazgol Ghandnoosh and Sabrina Pearce titled “America’s Incarceration Crossroad…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 16d

Compassionate release implementation after First Step Act finally comes before SCOTUS sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/c...

Compassionate release implementation after First Step Act finally comes before SCOTUS

On December 21, 2018, Prez Trump signed the First Step Act (FSA) into law. In this post marking the occasion, I commented that “so many of the large and small elements of the FSA involve impo…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 16d

How about some clemency grants, Prez Trump, to support vets on Veterans Day? sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/h...

How about some clemency grants, Prez Trump, to support vets on Veterans Day?

The question in the title of this post is one I tend to ask of every President on this day for honoring those who have served (examples here and here). But this year, the question seems particularl…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 17d

New DPIC report on "Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty" sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/n...

New DPIC report on “Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty”

On the eve of Veterans Day 2025, the Death Penalty Information Center has produced a big new report focused on the experiences of veterans as defendants in the administration of capital punishment …

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 18d

Prez Trump again uses clemency power for a notable celebrity, retired police officer, and former politicians sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/p...

Prez Trump again uses clemency power for a notable celebrity, retired police officer, and former politicians

Prez Donald Trump closed out last week by taking out this clemency pen yet again. This time, a notable retired baseball star, a retired police officer, and a pair of politicians were the beneficiar…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 22d

Do Justice Gorsuch's concerns about judge-made law foreshadow big issue in compassionate release cases? sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/d...

Do Justice Gorsuch’s concerns about judge-made law foreshadow big issue in compassionate release cases?

I sense a number of Justices, perhaps particularly Justices Thomas and Gorsuch, are wary about the development of judge-made law, especially in the context of statutory interpretation when it would…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 24d

SCOTUS back in action hearing arguments in more criminal cases as November sitting begins sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/s...

SCOTUS back in action hearing arguments in more criminal cases as November sitting begins

The US government is still officially “shut down” as of this writing, and the US Supreme Court’s website now states that the Supreme Court Building is “closed to the public …

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · 24d

Experimenting with latest reboot of "Sentencing Law and Policy" blog
sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/h...

Experimenting with latest reboot of “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog

Since the demise of Typepad — where I blogged under the banner “Sentencing Law and Policy” (SL&P) from May 2004 until September 2025 — I have been exploring a variety of…

sentencinglawandpolicy.wordpress.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · Jun 30

sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_l...

Sentencing Law and Policy: Quick recap of US Supreme Court's major criminal justice opinions for OT 2024

sentencing.typepad.com

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · Jun 24

Five Questions with Douglas Berman, Steve Chanenson, and Jonathan Wroblewski, Co-Editors of Federal Sentencing Reporter dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/06/24/f...

Five Questions with Douglas Berman, Steve Chanenson, and Jonathan Wroblewski, Co-Editors of Federal Sentencing Reporter

New to Duke University Press in 2025, the Federal Sentencing Reporter explores in detail the complex sector of sentencing law, practice, and theory. Each issue is organized around a centr…

dukeupress.wordpress.com

FAMM Foundation @famm.org · Jun 21

Pa. Board of Pardons launches online clemency applications
(via @northcentralpa.bsky.social)
https://pulse.ly/cuv49orxrt

Pa. Board of Pardons launches online clemency applications

Harrisburg, Pa. — The Pa. Board of Pardons is making it easier to earn a second chance through a fully online application for clemency and a new, Spanish-language application. The

pulse.ly

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · Jun 9

After Kennedy: pondering Eighth Amendment functioning and litigating
open.substack.com/pub/sentenci...

After Kennedy: pondering Eighth Amendment functioning and litigating

With states enacting new capital child rape laws, whither the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling Kennedy v. Louisiana?

open.substack.com

Bridget Dooling @bridgetdooling.bsky.social · May 7

Regs

*Taps mic*

Hello! I’m a former long-time civil servant turned academic.

I wanna tell you some stuff.

First, my service was mostly at a place called OIRA, which is an office that oversees federal regulation. I’d therefore rate myself as an above-average tea-leaf-reader for federal regs.

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · Apr 12

CP cases have a long history of district courts not following guideline, and DOJ has long history of appealing when essentially no prison time is imposed. Reversals are not uncommon on those appeals, though there is considerable factual and panel variations.

Public Health On Call Podcast @publichealthpod.bsky.social · Feb 24

Cannabis is legal in nearly half of all U.S. states. But between federal and state laws, policy is complicated.

Hear from @neurovoice.bsky.social and @sentencinglaw.bsky.social on how this hazy landscape impacts public health policy and equity: podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/853-the-hazy...

Promo graphic for episode 853 of Public Health On Call, titled The Hazy World of Cannabis Policy.

Bolts @boltsmag.org · Feb 7

Kim Kardashian helped bring attention to the case of Dawn Jackson, a woman incarcerated in New Jersey for a crime against a man who was abusing her.

New Jersey governor’s granted Jackson clemency in December.
boltsmag.org/new-jer...

For Abuse Survivors, a New Path to Release from New Jersey Prisons

Governor Phil Murphy commuted the sentences of three women convicted for killing abusers. Now advocates also want a legislative fix, and point to reforms in New York and Oklahoma.

boltsmag.org

Jeff Asher @jeffasher.bsky.social · Jan 23

New report from the Council on Criminal Justice finds a large, nearly across-the-board decline in crime in a sample of 40 large cities last year:

counciloncj.org/crime-trends...

Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Year-End 2024 Update - Council on Criminal Justice

Homicide and most other violent crimes have fallen below pre-pandemic levels in a sample of 40 U.S. cities. CCJ’s year-end 2024 analysis also shows a year-over-year decrease in 12 of 13 major offenses...

counciloncj.org

Douglas Berman @sentencinglaw.bsky.social · Jan 18

sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_l...

Prison Policy Initiative @prisonpolicy.org · Jan 11

It's National Poverty in America Awareness Month – sadly, the carceral system targets & perpetuates poverty

People with multiple arrests are more likely to be poor, unemployed & have less than a high school education

Time to support our communities instead of locking them up

Infographic explaining how the carceral system targets and perpetuates poverty

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jan 10

Strongly disagree with this Politico headline. Judge Merchan's sentence of "unconditional discharge" was always fairly likely given the unique circumstances and the fact that this was a low-level felony. What's important is that Trump is now, officially, a convicted felon. That's not lackluster!

Trump receives no punishment for hush money conviction
It's a lackluster end to the legal saga that will make him the country’s first felon-turned-president.

Thomas Abt @thomasabt.bsky.social · Jan 2

Love this piece by Greg Berman in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social. "Style-guide liberalism" is not persuasive advocacy, it's purity politics that doesn't help anyone, especially those it's supposedly in service of. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Vital City | The Problem with the ‘Criminal Legal System’

The activist urge to change basic terminology has significant drawbacks.

www.vitalcitynyc.org

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · Jan 2

I really appreciate Judge Rovner, of the 7th Circuit, calling out the lack of transparent public access to federal dockets. It is still far too difficult for litigants, the press, and the public to access court records! It's a serious problem! media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...

Although that video is available on the district court docket at R. 201,
it is cumbersome for the public to access. A member of the public must
first contact the Certified Copy Desk, wait for an invoice, pay the invoice,
wait for the payment to be processed, and then wait for a URL via email.
If, in fact, it becomes more common for district courts and appellate courts
to decide cases based on video evidence, it will be imperative to have more
easily available public access to those videos. A litigant ought to be able
to argue to the court about the ways in which the videos in her particular
case are similar to or different from the videos analyzed by courts in other
cases. Moreover, a transparent court system requires the public to have
easy access to the videos on which courts are relying in granting summary
judgment

Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · Jan 2

While campaigning, Trump called for expanding what crimes can receive the death penalty. @sentencinglaw.bsky.social says Trump has been consistent with his wishes on the matter, but executing the plan may be more difficult.

Adriana Gomez Licon, AP:

Trump vows to pursue executions after Biden commutes most of federal death row

President-elect Donald Trump says he'll “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing…

buff.ly

Jeff Asher @jeffasher.bsky.social · Dec 27

The FBI recently reported its 2023 bank robbery report, so here are bank robberies reported to the FBI per year, 1990 - 2023:

Hernandez D. Stroud @stroud.bsky.social · Dec 27

“It will have to be the judges.”

Tremendous, crucial piece by former federal judge @ngertner.bsky.social on potential threats to the rule of law over the next four years. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/o...

Opinion | What Judges Can Do for the Rule of Law Under Trump

Someone will have to watch out for potential abuse and defend the system.

www.nytimes.com

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