Richard Frase
- Professor of Law Emeritus
- Former Co-Director, Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice
332 Mondale Hall
Degrees
- Haverford College, B.A.
- University of Chicago, J.D.
Expertise
- Criminal Justice
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Procedure
- Criminal Sentencing
Professor Richard S. Frase is the Benjamin N. Berger Professor of Criminal Law emeritus, and former Co-Director of the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. He is also the founder and former Co-Director of the Robina Institute’s Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center and the Institute’s Criminal History Enhancements project. He taught Criminal Law and the Federal Defense Clinic. He has also taught the Misdemeanor Prosecution Clinic, the Sentencing Guidelines Seminar, the Misdemeanor Prosecution Clinic, the Federal Prosecution Clinic, and seminars on sentencing policy and on comparative criminal procedure. His scholarship examines Minnesota and other state sentencing guidelines, punishment and proportionality theories, criminal procedure in the U.S. and abroad, and comparison of sentencing law and practice across U.S. states and between the U.S. and other nations. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of nine book titles (17 volumes) and over eighty-five articles, essays, and other writings on these topics.
Professor Frase graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Haverford College. In 1970 he received his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago, where he was Comment Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. He then clerked for the Honorable Luther M. Swygert, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and was an associate attorney for the law firm of Sidley & Austin in Chicago. From 1974 to 1977 Professor Frase was a research associate and Arnold Shure Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Center for Studies in Criminal Justice.
In 1977 he joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota Law School. He was the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law for 1988-89 and became Berger Professor in 1991. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel, Germany, and at the Université Jean Moulin in Lyon, France, and a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg (Breisgau), Germany. Professor Frase is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the American Society of Criminology, and the Advisory Board of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. He is a frequent contributor to radio, television, and newspaper reports on criminal justice issues.
For more information, please read Professor Frase's curriculum vitae.
Richard Frase Publishes Paying for the Past: The Case Against Prior Record Sentence Enhancements
Books
Paying for the Past: The Case Against Prior Record Sentence Enhancements (Oxford University Press, 2019)
Criminal History Enhancements Sourcebook (Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 2015)
Just Sentencing: Principles and Procedures for a Workable System (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Minnesota Misdemeanors and Moving Traffic Violations (Butterworth Legal Publishers, 2d ed., 1990-1998 (looseleaf); Lexis Law Publishing, 3d ed., 1999-2012 (updated by pocket parts))
Proportionality Principles in American Law: Controlling Excessive Government Actions (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice (Joshua Dressler, editor in chief, Macmillan Reference USA, 2d ed., 2002) (vols. I-IV) (co-editor)
Sentencing and Sanctions in Western Countries (Oxford University Press, 2001) (co-editor)
Sentencing in Germany and the United States: Comparing Apfel with Apples (Edition Iuscrim, 2001) (Research in brief series)
Criminal Evidence: Constitutional, Statutory, and Rules Limitations (Butterworth, 1985) (Supps. 1986-1992)
Minnesota Misdemeanors and Moving Traffic Violations (Mason Publishing Company, 1st ed., 1982-1989 (looseleaf))
The French Code of Criminal Procedure (F.B. Rothman, 1988) (translated into English)
The Criminal Justice System: Materials on the Administration and Reform of the Criminal Law (Little, Brown & Company, 1980)
Journal Articles
The Partial Success of Judge Frankel’s Sentencing Commission, Fifty Years On, 35 Federal Sentencing Reporter 240–248 (2023)
The Truth and Action Project: Addressing Systemic Racism in the Criminal Justice System in Minnesota, 38 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 539-596 (2023)
Can Sentencing Guidelines Commissions Help States Substantially Reduce Mass Incarceration?, 104 Minnesota Law Review 2781-2803 (2020)
Forty Years of American Sentencing Guidelines: What Have We Learned?, 48 Crime and Justice 79–135 (2019)
Sentencing Guidelines in American Courts: A Forty-Year Retrospective, 32 Federal Sentencing Reporter 109-123 (2019)
Suspended Sentences and Free-Standing Probation Orders in U.S. Guidelines Systems: A Survey and Assessment, 82 Law & Contemporary Problems 51-79 (2019)
A Consumer's Guide to Sentencing Reform: Reflections on Zimring's Cautionary Tale, 23 Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law 1-24 (2018)
A Measure of Tolerance: Public Attitudes on Sentencing Enhancements for Old and Juvenile Prior Records, 3 Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research 137 (2018)
Prior Record Enhancements at Sentencing: Unsettled Justifications and Unsettling Consequences, 47 Crime and Justice 209 (2018)
Examining the Operation and Impacts of Prior Record Sentencing Enhancements, 30 Federal Sentencing Reporter 74 (2017)
Why Are Minnesota’s Prison Populations Continuing to Rise in an Era of Decarceration, 30 Federal Sentencing Reporter 114 (2017)
Learning from European Punishment Practices--and from Similar American Practices, Now and In the Past, 27 Federal Sentencing Reporter 19-25 (2014)
Guest Editor's Observations: Recurring Policy Issues of Guidelines (and non-Guidelines) Sentencing: Risk Assessments, Criminal History Enhancements, and the Enforcement of Release Conditions, 26 Federal Sentencing Reporter 145-157 (2014)
Research on Race and Sentencing: Goals, Methods, and Topics, 30 Justice Quarterly 262-269 (2013)
What's "Different" (Enough) in Eighth Amendment Law?, 11 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 9-36 (2013)
Graham's Good News--and Not, 23 Federal Sentencing Reporter 54-57 (2010)
Norval Morris's Contributions to Sentencing Structures, Theory, and Practice, 21 Federal Sentencing Reporter 254-260 (2009)
Second Look Provisions in the Proposed Model Penal Code Revisions, 21 Federal Sentencing Reporter 194-202 (2009)
What Explains Persistent Racial Disproportionality in Minnesota's Prison and Jail Populations?, 38 Crime and Justice 201 (2009)
Limiting Excessive Prison Sentences under Federal and State Constitutions, 11 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 39 (2008), reprinted in part in Why Punish? How Much?: A Reader on Punishment 263 (Michael Tonry, ed., Oxford University Press, 2011)
The Apprendi-Blakely Cases: Sentencing Reform Counter-Revolution?, 6 Criminology & Public Policy 403-32 (2007)
Blakely in Minnesota, Two Years Out: Guidelines Sentencing Is Alive And Well, 4 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 73-94 (2006)
Excessive Prison Sentences, Punishment Goals, and the Eighth Amendment: "Proportionality" Relative To What?, 89 Minnesota Law Review 571-651 (2005)
Punishment Purposes, 58 Stanford Law Review 67-83 (2005)
Sentencing Guidelines in Minnesota, 1978-2003, 32 Crime and Justice 131-219 (2005)
State Sentencing Guidelines: Diversity, Consensus, and Unresolved Policy Issues, 105 Columbia Law Review 1190-1232 (2005)
The Impact of Contextual Factors on the Decision to Imprison in Large Urban Jurisdictions: A Multilevel Analysis, 51 Crime and Delinquency 400-424 (2005)
The Warren Court's Missed Opportunities in Substantive Criminal Law, 3 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 75-103 (2005)
Why Minnesota Will Weather Blakely's Blast, 18 Federal Sentencing Reporter 12-18 (2005)
Explaining Sentencing Severity in Large Urban Counties: A Multilevel Analysis of Contextual and Case-Level Factors, 84 Prison Journal 184-207 (2004)
Historical and Comparative Perspectives on the Exceptional Severity of Sentencing in the United States, 36 George Washington International Law Review 227-237 (2004) (reviewing James Q. Whitman, Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishments and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe (Oxford University Press, 2003)) (review essay)
Legal and Extralegal Determinants of Inter-County Differences in Prison Use, 14 Criminal Justice Policy Review 377-400 (2003)
What Were They Thinking? Fourth Amendment Unreasonableness in Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 71 Fordham Law Review 329-421 (2002), reprinted as How Can a Clearly Unreasonable Arrest be a "Reasonable" Seizure?, in 30 Search and Seizure Law Report 85-92 (2003)
A County-Level Comparison of the Propensity to Sentence Felons to Prison, 1 International Journal of Comparative Criminology 1 (2001)
Is Guided Discretion Sufficient? Overview of State Sentencing Guidelines, 44 St. Louis University Law Journal 425-46 (2000) (abbreviated version of article published in 12 Federal Sentencing Reporter 69-82 (1999))
The Search for the Whole Truth About American and European Criminal Justice, 3 Buffalo Criminal Law Review 785-849 (2000) (reviewing William T. Pizzi, Trials Without Truth: Why Our System of Criminal Trials Has Become an Expensive Failure and What We Need To Do To Rebuild It (New York University Press, 2000)) (review essay)
Sentencing Guidelines in Minnesota, Other States, and the Federal Courts: A Twenty-Year Retrospective, 12 Federal Sentencing Reporter 69-82 (1999)
Main-streaming Comparative Criminal Justice: How to Incorporate Comparative and International Concepts and Materials into Basic Criminal Law and Procedure Courses, 100 West Virginia Law Review 773 (1998)
Prison Population Growing Under Minnesota Guidelines, 4 Overcrowded Times 1, 10-12 (1993), reprinted in Sentencing Reform in Overcrowded Times: A Comparative Perspective 40-45 (Michael Tonry & Kathleen Hatlestad, eds., Oxford University Press, 1997)
Sentencing Guidelines "Alive and Well" in the States, 5 Overcrowded Times 1, 11-14, reprinted in Sentencing Reform in Overcrowded Times: A Comparative Perspective 12-17 (Michael Tonry & Kathleen Hatlestad, eds., Oxford University Press, 1997)
Sentencing Guidelines in the States: Lessons for State and Federal Reformers, 6 Federal Sentencing Reporter 123 (1993) (Guest Editor's Observations), reprinted in 10 Federal Sentencing Reporter 46 (1997)
Sentencing Principles in Theory and Practice, 22 Crime and Justice 363 (1997)
German Criminal Justice as a Guide to American Law Reform: Similar Problems, Better Solutions?, 18 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 317 (1995)
Lessons of State Guideline Reforms, 8 Federal Sentencing Reporter 39 (1995)
Sentencing Laws & Practices in France, 7 Federal Sentencing Reporter 275 (1995)
State Sentencing Guidelines: Still Going Strong, 78 Judicature 173 (1995)
Purposes of Punishment under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, 13 Criminal Justice Ethics 11 (1994) (Symposium on Sentencing Guidelines and Guidance)
Implementing Commission-Based Sentencing Guidelines: The Lessons of the First Ten Years in Minnesota, 2 Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy 279 (1993)
The Role of the Legislature, the Sentencing Commission, and Other Officials under the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, 28 Wake Forest Law Review 345 (1993)
The Uncertain Future of Sentencing Guidelines, 12 Law & Inequality 1 (1993)
Defendant Amenability to Treatment or Probation as a Basis for Departure Under the Minnesota and Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 3 Federal Sentencing Reporter 328 (1991)
Sentencing Reform in Minnesota, Ten Years After: Reflections on Dale G. Parent's Structuring Criminal Sentences: The Evolution of Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines, 75 Minnesota Law Review 727 (1991)
Comparative Criminal Justice as a Guide to American Law Reform: How Do the French Do it, How Can We Find Out, and Why Should We Care?, 78 California Law Review 539 (1990)
Criminal Procedure in a Conservative Age: A Time to Rediscover the Critical Nonconstitutional Issues, 36 Journal of Legal Education 79 (1986)
Defining the Limits of Crime Control and Due Process, 73 California Law Review 212 (1985) (reviewing Hans Zeisel, The Limits of Law Enforcement (University of Chicago Press, 1982)) (review essay)
The Decision to File Federal Criminal Charges: A Quantitative Study of Prosecutorial Discretion, 47 University of Chicago Law Review 246 (1980)
The Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 43 University of Chicago Law Review 667 (1976)
Criminal Justice in Extremis: Administration of Justice During the April 1968 Chicago Disorder, 36 University of Chicago Law Review 455-613 (1969)
Book Chapters
Proportionality of Punishment in Common Law Jurisdictions and in Germany, in Core Concepts in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 213-260 (Kai Ambos, Antony Duff, Julian V. Roberts, Thomas Weigend & Alexander Heinze, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2020)
Punishment Purposes and Eighth Amendment Disproportionality, in The Eighth Amendment and Its Future in a New Age of Punishment 101-117 (Meghan J. Ryan & William W. Berry III, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2020)
Rethinking the Role of Criminal History in Sentencing, in Handbook on Sentencing Policies and Practices in the 21st Century 283-311 (Cassia Spohn & Pauline K. Brennan, eds., Routledge, 2020)
Sentencing Guidelines in the United States, in Handbook on Sentencing Policies and Practices in the 21st Century 43-67 (Cassia Spohn & Pauline K. Brennan, eds., Routledge, 2020)
The Problematic Role of Prior Record Enhancements in Predictive Sentencing, in Predictive Sentencing: Normative and Empirical Perspectives 149-173 (Jan W. de Keijser, Julian V. Roberts & Jesper Ryberg, eds., Hart Publishing, 2019)
Principles and Procedures for Sentencing of Multiple Current Offenses, in Sentencing Multiple Crimes 189-210 (Jesper Ryberg, Julian V. Roberts & Jan W. de Keijser, eds., Oxford University Press, 2018)
Sentencing Policies and Practices in Minnesota, in Oxford Handbooks Online: Criminology & Criminal Justice (Oxford University Press, 2016)
Theories of Proportionality and Desert, in The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections 131-149 (Joan Petersilia & Kevin Reitz, eds., Oxford University Press, 2012)
Can Above-desert Penalties Be Justified by Competing Deontological Theories?, in Retributivism Has a Past: Has It a Future? 169-187 (Michael Tonry, ed., Oxford University Press, 2011)
Prior-conviction Sentencing Enhancements: Rationales and Limits Based on Retributive and Utilitarian Proportionality Principles and Social Equality Goals, in Previous Convictions at Sentencing: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives 117-136 (Julian V. Roberts & Andrew von Hirsch, eds., Hart Pub., 2010)
America's Sentencing Future, in Corrections in the 21st Century (Frank Schmalleger & John Smykla, eds., McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009)
National Report: United States of America, in Strafverteidigung vor neuen Herausforderungen: Denkanstösse aus sieben Rechtsordnungen (Criminal Defense Facing New Challenges) (Thomas Weigend, Susanne Walter & Barbara Grunewald, eds., Duncker & Humblot, 2008)
Sentencing and Comparative Law Theory, in Crime, Procedure and Evidence in a Comparative and International Context: Essays in Honour of Professor Mirjan Damaska (John D. Jackson, Máximo Langer & Peter Tillers, eds., Hart Publishing, 2008)
The Defense Lawyer's Role in Negotiated Justice, in Strafverteidigung vor neuen Herausforderungen: Denkanstösse aus sieben Rechtsordnungen (Criminal Defense Facing New Challenges) (Thomas Weigend, ed., Duncker & Humblot, 2008)
The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, in Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy (Arie Freiberg & Karen Gelb, eds., Willan Publishing, 2008); adapted version reprinted in Principled Sentencing: Readings on Theory and Policy 270 (Andrew von Hirsch, Andrew Ashworth & Julian Roberts, eds., Hart Publishing, 3d ed., 2009)
France, in Criminal Procedure: A Worldwide Study 201-42 (Craig Bradley, ed., Carolina Academic Press, 1st. ed., 1999; 2d ed., 2007)
Limiting Retributivism, in The Future of Imprisonment 83-119 (Michael Tonry, ed., Oxford University Press, 2004), reprinted in Principled Sentencing: Readings on Theory and Policy 135 (Andrew von Hirsch, Andrew Ashworth & Julian Roberts, eds., Hart Publishing, 3d ed., 2009), and in Why Punish? How Much?: A Reader on Punishment 255 (Michael Tonry, ed., Oxford University Press, 2011)
Criminal Punishments, in The Oxford Companion to American Law 197-202 (Kermit Hall, editor in chief, Oxford University Press, 2002)
International Perspectives on Sentencing Policy and Research, in Sentencing and Sanctions in Western Countries (Michael Tonry & Richard S. Frase, eds., Oxford University Press, 2001)
Comparative Criminal Justice Policy, in Theory and in Practice, in Les systèmes comparés de justice pénale: de la diversité au rapprochement = Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: From Diversity to Rapprochement 109-121 (Editions Erès, 1998)
Jails, in The Handbook of Crime & Punishment 474-506 (Michael Tonry, ed., Oxford University Press, 1998)
Fair Trial Standards in the United States of America, in The Right to a Fair Trial 31-83 (David Weissbrodt & Rudiger Wolfrum, eds., Springer, 1997)
Sentencing Guidelines in Minnesota and Other American States: A Progress Report, in The Politics of Sentencing Reform 169-198 ( Chris Clarkson & Rod Morgan, eds., Clarendon Press, 1995)
Book Reviews
Book Review, 39 Criminal Law Bulletin 488-494 (2003) (reviewing David T. Johnson, The Japanese Way of Justice: Prosecuting Crime in Japan (Oxford University Press, 2002))
Entries in Reference Works
Punishment Justifications and Goals, in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Criminology (Richard B. Rosenfeld, ed., Oxford University Press, 2011)
Punishment and Sentencing Alternatives, in Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global Perspectives (David S. Clark, ed., Sage Publications, 2007)
Criminal Justice System, in Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice 371-393 (Joshua Dressler, editor in chief, Macmillan Reference USA, 2d ed., 2002)
Criminalization and Decriminalization, in Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice 347-61 (Joshua Dressler, editor in chief, Macmillan Reference USA, 2d ed., 2002)
Sentencing Guidelines, in The Encyclopedia of American Law 391-93 (David Schultz, ed., Facts On File, 2002)
Victimless Crime, in Encyclopedia of Crime & Justice 1626-1629 (Joshua Dressler, editor in chief, Macmillan Reference USA, 2d ed., 2002)
Criminal Justice System, Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, Supplement 1 132 (Leonard Levy, Kenneth Karst & John West, eds., Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992)
Criminalization and Decriminalization, in Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice 438 (Sanford Kadish, editor in chief, Free Press, 1983)
Victimless Crime, in Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice 1608-1611 (Sanford Kadish, editor in chief, Free Press, 1983)
Other Publications
What are Sentencing Guidelines? (Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, 2018 rev.)
Federal Profile (Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, 2017)
How Sentencing Guidelines and Other Reforms Can Reduce Unfair Penalties Imposed on Offenders Found Guilty at Trial, News & Views from Robina (2016)
Jurisdiction Profile: Minnesota (Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, 2016)
Minnesota Sentencing Case Law (Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, 2016)
American Sentencing Guidelines Reforms: Learning from Experience (Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, 2015)
Jurisdiction Profile: Oregon (Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, 2015)
Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center (Robina Institute of Criminal Law & Criminal Justice, 2015) (founder and contributor; co-editor)
Varying Binding Effects of Guidelines -- the Mandatory-to-Advisory Continuum (Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, 2015)
Why Have U.S. State and Federal Jurisdictions Enacted Sentencing Guidelines? (Robina Sentencing Guidelines Resource Center, 2015)
Proportionality Principles in the American System of Criminal Justice, Perspectives: The Magazine of the University of Minnesota Law School 28-32 (Fall 2005)
Selected Legal Briefs
Brief of The Institute on Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School and Eleven Leading Experts on Law Enforcement and Corrections Administration and Policy as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners, Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 532 U.S. 318 (2000)