The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore (and other offices around the county) has announced a new policy, effective March 13, in which certain drug offenders will receive a 2-level downward departure on the drug quantity chart. This is fantastic news and it aligns with imminent changes to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Statistically, this amounts to…
A new law that would reduce drug sentences passed a major Senate hurdle this week with bipartisan support. It still has a long way to go before it will become law, but it is off to a good start. The Smarter Sentencing Act, which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, would take some of the sting…
The Federal Sentencing Commission has recommended a change to the Sentencing Guidelines that could shorten drug sentences by an average of 11 months. This proposal is yet another indication that lawmakers and policymakers are starting to realize that federal drug penalties are way too long and need to be reigned in. The Commission’s recommendation is…
I get asked the question all the time. Why do you represent criminal defendants? Sometimes I ask myself. But this is why. I have sat in prison visiting booths with inmates serving life sentences whom I believed were innocent. I have stood side by side with guilty defendants who were better human beings than the…
A recent report by Human Rights Watch underscores an obvious fact of federal drug prosecutions: the Government uses the threat of sentencing enhancements to all but force criminal defendants to plead guilty. As a result, 97 percent of federal drug cases result in guilty pleas. By statute, criminal defendants receive extreme mandatory enhancements in some…
One of the great injustices of the Maryland state bail system is that it discriminates against the poor. People who are charged with crimes are often held on high bails that they cannot possibly afford. This can happen for even relatively minor criminal allegations. The only way they can get out is by paying a…
Every couple years, it seems, there is a new effort to implement a law that would allow federal inmates to earn more good-time credit, and thereby shorten their sentences. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, sponsored the latest effort, which was sent to the Judiciary Committee.
Under current law, a federal inmate receives up to 54 days off his sentence for good-time credit. This means BOP inmates serve about 85 percent of their actual sentences – a rate far higher than most state systems….
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