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Criminal sentencing can be a confusing issue for journalists who are not well versed in court and corrections practices. A sentence can be straightforward, such as a set number of years, or it can be expressed as a time range that make it difficult to explain how long a defendant is likely to serve in custody. Terms that have become common in recent decades include mandatory minimum sentences, “three strikes” penalties, and sentencing guidelines. Their application differs from state to state, as do probation and parole practices. Before covering criminal cases, journalists are well advised to consult with experts in their jurisdictions about how the sentencing system works. Prosecutors often announce charges against suspects that they say could result in a very long prison term, but because of plea bargaining or weaknesses in the case, almost never is the maximum conceivable sentence imposed. Reporters should also be aware of the variety of sentencing possibilities and focus not only on time behind bars but also on such elements as fines, restitution to victims, and required treatment or other conditions of probation.
The annual H.F. Guggenheim symposium has emerged as a key date on the nation’s calendar of criminal justice events, primarily because it is the only conference that brings together a select audience of journalists, academics, practitioners and policy makers to discuss current issues of criminal justice facing the nation. You are cordially invited to join [...]
University of Utah College of Law
http://www.law.utah.edu/profiles/default.asp?PersonID=57&name=Cassell,Paul
(801) 581-6833
cassellp@law.utah.edu
Cassell, a former law clerk for Chief Justice Warren Burger, was a Justice Department official and a federal prosecutor in Virginia. He served as a law professor for 10 years before becoming a federal trial judge in Utah in 2002. In 2007, he resigned from the bench and returned [...]
Stanford University Law School
(650) 723-0612
Weisberg is a specialist in criminal law with an interest in prisons and sentencing, and the death penalty.
Criminal sentencing can be a confusing issue for journalists who are not well versed in court and corrections practices. A sentence can be straightforward, such as a set number of years, or it can be expressed as a time range that make it difficult to explain how long a defendant is likely to serve in [...]
Washington, D.C.
http://www.ussc.gov
(202 502-4500
Michael Courlander—media contact (202) 502-4597
pubaffairs@ussc.gov
The commission is a judicial branch entity whose seven members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It was created in a 1984 federal anticrime law to recommend sentencing guidelines for federal judges. The guidelines became effective in 1987, but the Supreme Court ruled in [...]
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have created their own sentencing commissions to consider sentencing policies. Links to those commissions can be found at: http://www.ussc.gov/states/nascaddr.htm
New York City
http://justicecenter.csg.org
Martha Plotkin—media contact (240) 482-8579
The center promotes effective data-driven practices—particularly in areas in which the criminal justice system intersects with other disciplines, such as public health—to affect a particular public safety problem. The center has focused on prisoner re-entry and “justice reinvestment”—“increasing public safety, reducing spending on corrections, and improving conditions in the [...]
Washington, D.C.
http://www.famm.org
(202) 822-6700
media@famm.org
The organization was founded in 1991 by Julie Stewart, whose brother, a first-time drug offender, received a mandatory minimum prison term of five years for growing marijuana. Stewart started the group to campaign against such laws. The group concentrates its work in Washington, D.C., and in several states, including Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and [...]
http://www.ussc.gov/STATES.HTM
John P. O’Connell, president
(302) 739-4626
John.o’connell@state.de.us
The association was formed to exchange information among the state sentencing agencies. It does not have a full-time staff.
Baltimore
http://www.ncianet.org
(410) 265-1490
Herbert Hoelter, president
The center, founded by advocates of alternatives to incarceration, helps arrange treatment for emotionally disturbed youth, developmentally disabled adults and adolescents, and others involved in the criminal justice system.
Washington, D.C.
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=31336
(202) 552-2000
Launched in 2006, the project helps states advance fiscally sound, data-driven sentencing and corrections policies that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable, and control costs. The project is collaborating with several external partners to provide expert, nonpartisan information and assistance to 13 states that want a better return on their public safety investments.
Washington, D.C.
http://sentencingproject.org
(202) 628-0871
Zerline Jennings—media contact
The organization promotes reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration. It was founded in 1986 to provide sentencing advocacy training to defense lawyers. It now campaigns on a number of issues, including racial disparity in the justice system, disenfranchisement of felons, and convicts’ loss of welfare, education, and [...]
New York City
http://www.vera.org/csc/csc.html
(212) 334-1300
Robin Campbell—media contact
Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections (CSC) provides nonpartisan support to government officials and criminal justice professionals on sentencing and corrections policy. Using empirical data and evidence-based practices, the institute identifies emerging trends and issues and helps develop cost-effective strategies for protecting public safety.
Ohio State University
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/faculty/bios.php?ID=5
(614) 688-8690
berman.43@osu.edu
Berman specializes in criminal law and criminal sentencing. He is co-author of a casebook on the subject (“Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines; Aspen Publishers) and has served as an editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter for more than a decade. Berman is the creator of the widely-read Weblog “Sentencing [...]
University of Wisconsin Law School
http://law.wisc.edu/profiles/index.php?iEmployeeID=123
(608) 262-1542
wjdickey@wisc.edu
Dickey heads the law school’s Remington Center for Research, Education and Service in Criminal Justice. He is former director of the state corrections division and chaired the Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing and Corrections, which reported in 1996. He was a participant in Executive Sessions on Sentencing and Corrections, sponsored [...]
Washington, D.C.
http://www.pardonlaw.com
(202) 547-0453
Margaretlove@pardonlaw.com
Love specializes in executive clemency and restoration of convict rights, as well as sentencing and corrections policy. She served in the U.S. Justice Department as Pardon Attorney between 1990 and 1997, and directs the American Bar Association’s Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions.
Austin, Tx.
http://www.texaspolicy.com/staff_member.php?staff_id=32
(512) 472-2700
(e-mail him via his Web site)
Levin is a director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He focuses on sentencing and corrections issues from a free-market perspective. He has served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
University of Minnesota
http://www.law.umn.edu/facultyprofiles/reitzk.html
(612) 626-3078
reitz027@umn.edu
Reitz specializes in sentencing law and policy. In 1993, he organized the first meeting of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions. He continues to work with various state sentencing commissions. He formerly served as co-reporter of the American Bar Association’s criminal justice standards for sentencing.
University of Pennsylvania Law School
http://www.law.upenn.edu/cf/faculty/phrobins/
(215) 898-1017
phr@law.upenn.edu
Robinson was a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission in the 1980s and has written extensively on sentencing and issues of punishment theory.
George Washington University Law School
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/Profile.aspx?id=1761
(202) 994-7089
ssaltz@law.gwu.edu
Saltzburg was a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and served as the Attorney General’s ex-officio representative on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. He chaired the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section in 2007-08. He co-chairs the ABA’s Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions.
