How to Say a Sentence
At a recent conference, a judge confessed to me that he and his fellow judges drive the clerks crazy because they all pronounce judgment differently. They use different words to […]
July 1, 2015
Proper Procedure for Aggravating Factors
Not many sentences come from the aggravated range—four percent in Fiscal Year 2013/14, according to the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission. But when you use the aggravated range, […]
June 24, 2015
The Death Penalty, Intellectual Disability, and Warrick Dunn
The United States Supreme Court just decided a capital case about intellectual disability, formerly known as mental retardation. In some ways, it’s an “error correction” case that doesn’t break new […]
June 23, 2015
Proper Place of Confinement for a Probation Revocation
Last year I posted a chart summarizing the proper place of confinement (jail, prison, or Statewide Misdemeanant Confinement Program) for various types of imprisonment. The chart covers active sentences, split […]
June 15, 2015
Holding Jurors in Contempt for Cell Phone Use
Courts around the country have struggled to address inappropriate cell phone usage by jurors. Some judges have used their contempt powers to deal with the issue. In Oregon, a judge […]
June 11, 2015
Surprise Post-Release Supervision
I get a lot of mail from inmates. Lately, many of them have written to express their surprise upon being told by prison officials—for the first time—that they will have […]
June 9, 2015
Sentencing App Update
It has been a little over a year since we announced the availability of the School of Government’s mobile app for Structured Sentencing. The app has been downloaded over one […]
June 2, 2015
Post-Release Supervisees Who Commit New Crimes
Post-release supervision used to be relatively rare. Before 2011, only Class B1–E felons received PRS, and they accounted for only about 15 percent of all felons. Now that Class F–I […]
May 28, 2015
Counting Jail Credit Days
If a defendant is arrested on Monday, detained all week, and sentenced on Friday, how many days of jail credit does he get?
May 21, 2015
When the Trial Court Has the Last Word
Litigants sometimes are surprised by circumstances in which a trial court’s ruling in a case is not capable of review on appeal. The court of appeals recognized one such situation […]
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