Federal Sentencing Law

This seminar provides an in-depth examination of sentencing law and policy in the United States, with a primary focus on the federal system. The course begins with an exploration of the purposes of sentencing and the development of current sentencing law and practices in the mid- 1980s, including the substantial expansion of the U.S. prison population. A significant portion of the seminar will be devoted to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, including their application in individual cases, their influence on plea bargaining and their role in the sentence a court ultimately imposes. This seminar will also explore other key topics such as community supervision, post-sentencing factors relevant to sentence severity (e.g., time credits authorized by the First Step Act of 2018, and collateral consequences), judicial authority to modify imposed sentences, and emerging developments such as the role of actuarial risk assessments in determining an appropriate sentence. The goal of this seminar is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the legal framework of federal sentencing and how that framework has affected the realities of sentencing in the United States.