Can Sentencing Guidelines Commissions Help States Substantially Reduce Mass Incarceration?
By Richard S. Frase. Full Text. In his forthcoming book, The Insidious Momentum of Mass Incarceration, Franklin Zimring argues that sentencing guidelines commissions, of the kind that exist in Minnesota and several other states, could help states roll back the massive increases in prison populations that began in the mid-1970s. Professor Zimring proposes to achieve…
Continue ReadingPrison-Release Reform and American Decarceration
By Kevin Reitz. Full Text. Parole boards and other officials with prison-release discretion have enormous statutory power over the size of prison populations in their jurisdictions. In discussions of American mass incarceration and potential decarceration strategies for the future, however, these officials are rarely mentioned. Indeed, little is known about how they do their work…
Continue ReadingThe Categorical Imperative as a Decarceral Agenda
By Jessica M. Eaglin. Full Text. Despite recent modest reductions in state prison populations, Franklin Zimring argues in his forthcoming book that mass incarceration remains persistent and intractable. As a path forward, Zimring urges states to adopt pragmatic, structural reforms that incentivize the reduction of prison populations through a “categorical imperative,” meaning, by identifying subcategories…
Continue ReadingZimring on Mass Incarceration: Empirical Pessimism and Cautious Reformist Optimism
By Robert Weisberg. Full Text. This Article places Professor Zimring’s treatment of the boom in imprisonment that led to mass incarceration in the wider context of his decades-long contemplation of our ability to understated changes in crime and punishment. His earlier studies of the great crime decline that began in the 1990s provides a revealing,…
Continue ReadingWhy the Policy Failures of Mass Incarceration Are Really Political Failures
By John F. Pfaff. Full Text. In his forthcoming book, The Insidious Momentum of Mass Incarceration, Franklin Zimring argues that the most effective way to end mass incarceration is to target the policy failures that drive it. He focuses in particular on the “prosecutorial free lunch”: prosecutors are county-funded officials who can send as many…
Continue ReadingDealing with Mass Incarceration
By Alfred Blumstein. Full Text. In today’s highly polarized political environment, one of the few issues which garners widespread agreement is the desire to reduce prison populations. Thus, it is rather disconcerting to see the recent stability of the incarceration rate since 2000. This raises the concern that this could be a reflection of a…
Continue ReadingPrisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration
By Rachel E. Barkow. Full text.
Continue Reading“Wreaking Extraordinary Destruction”: Defendant’s Irreplaceability as Presumptively Reasonable Grounds for Downward Departure in Sentencing
By Jackie Fielding. Full Text Despite the media attention afforded to the recent family separation crisis at the southern border of the United States, there is a much more prevalent and common form of family separation: parental incarceration. The United States is the largest incarcerator worldwide, and the surge in the incarceration of women has…
Continue ReadingA Blueprint for States To Solve the Mandatory Arbitration Problem While Avoiding FAA Preemption
By Sam Cleveland. Full Text. Employers are increasingly using mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses in employment contracts. Doing so gives employers benefits, such as privacy, the ability to select the arbitrators, and repeat players benefits, but they often leave employees without meaningful recourse when they are wronged, especially when class action waivers are used. This effect…
Continue ReadingSoft Law as Governing Law
By Steven L. Schwarcz. Full Text. International business transactions increasingly are being conducted under “soft law”—a term referring to non-state rules that may be aspirational or reflect best practices but are not yet legally enforceable. In part, this shift reflects a decline in cross-border treaty-making, which needs widespread consensus and is subject to lengthy negotiations.…
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