Articles

January 30, 2014The Obama administration announced a new clemency effort that encourages defense lawyers to refer to the Department of Justice low-level, nonviolent drug offenders for early release from federal prisons.Speaking before the New York State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section,...

Advocacy groups worry that technology could be used to financially exploit inmatesMarla Shvets, Allie Knopff and Jordan Watkins use the Securus Video Visitation system to set up an appointment to see an inmate in the Lake County jail in Waukegan. (Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune / December19, 2013...

By George F. Will Federal Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York says documents called “statements of reasons” are an optional way for a judge to express “views that might be of interest.” The one he issued two months ago is still reverberating. It expresses ...

SUB CHAPTER I - CONTROL AND ENFORCEMENT Part D - Offenses And Penalties §851. Proceedings to establish prior convictions (a) Information filed by United States Attorney (1) No person who stands convicted of an offense under this part shall be sentenced to increased punishment by reason of one...

January 16, 2014In early 2005, Josh Demmitt arrived at a federal prison camp, in Sheridan, Oregon, to serve a thirty-month sentence for starting a fire outside an animal-testing facility at Brigham Young University. The nineteen-year-old received a warm welcome from his fellow inmates, who greete...

By Cole Waterman  -  December 27, 2013 BAY CITY, MI- Providing a means for jail inmates to communicate with their loved ones on the outside is a lucrative business for a Dallas-based company, which supplies phone services to jails throughout Michigan. Since at least 2000, the Bay County Jail’s ...

SAMUEL MAULL, Associated Press May. 28, 2002   NEW YORK (AP) _ The former chairman of the now-defunct Duke & Co. securities firm was sentenced Tuesday to 22 1/2 years in prison for running a crooked company that cheated investors out of $650 million.
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Disposable yachts, prison with Tommy Chong, and bilking the elderly. All of this stuff actually happened, or might still be happening James Devaney/WireImage via Getty - Jordan Belfort is played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorcese's adaptation of his memoir. ...

He has asked Congress to make the new sentencing law retroactive.By Timothy M. Phelps  -December 20, 2013Washington - President Obama, condemning mandatory minimum sentences and disproportionately harsh sentences for crack cocaine as unjust, has commuted the prison terms of eight convicted offend...