Unlocking the Sentencing Guidelines: Session 16 - In Depth Discussion of 2025 Supervised Release Guideline Amendment

This webinar will provide an in-depth discussion of the 2025 Sentencing Guideline Amendments related to supervised release, which will go into effect on November 1, 2025, absent congressional action to the contrary. This session will review several overarching changes to the Guidelines approach to supervised release, including: (1) emphasizing the importance of judges making individualized decisions about supervised release at all relevant stages, i.e., including imposition, modification or extension, and revocation; (2) underscoring the authority of courts, in consultation with the probation officer, to reassess supervised release decisions after a defendant's release from imprisonment, including decisions about the length and conditions of supervision; and, (3) highlighting the rehabilitative purposes of supervised release by dividing the provisions addressing violations of probation and violations of supervised release into separate parts of Chapter Seven and providing courts with greater discretion to respond to a violation of a condition of supervised release, including where appropriate, through alternatives to revocation and imprisonment.

Presenters:

Elizabeth Blackwood is an attorney with the NationalSentencing Resource Counsel Project. Beth joined SRC in 2025. Before that, she spent twelve years as an Assistant Federal Defender and Research and Writing Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina.  She also previously worked as Counsel and Director of the First Step Act Resource Center at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ("NACDL").

Kelly M. Barrett is the First Assistant Federal Defender at the Office of the Federal Defender for the District of Connecticut.  In addition to managing the Office's internship program and supervising the Office's Curtis Liman fellow, she serves on the District's Support Court team and has served on the Grievance Committee and United States Magistrate Judge Selection Committee.  In 2023, Kelly testified at the United States Sentencing Commission on reductions in sentences ("compassionate release"), and in 2018, she was awarded the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association's "Champion of Liberty"Award.  She is also the 2024 recipient of the Elliot Milstein Award for Professional Excellence.  She co-teaches the Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic and Mental Health Justice Clinic at Yale Law School and is site supervisor for the Yale Law and Psychiatry program.   Previously, Kelly practiced in the White Collar, Securities Enforcement & Litigation, and Commercial Litigation groups at Arnold & Porter and now sits on the Alumni Board.  Kelly clerked for the Honorable Stefan R. Underhill in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Kelly graduated from the American University Washington College of Law in 2005, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, and was awarded the Gillette prize and the Outstanding Graduate Award. At WCL Kelly was a Public Interest/Public Service Scholar, receiving a three-year, full tuition scholarship for students focusing on public interest law. Kelly received the PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award, a national public interest and academic merit award. She was a Note & Comment Editor on the American University Law Review and an Articles Editor on the Human Rights Brief. Kelly graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a BA in history and received a Richard U. Light fellowship to study abroad in Japan. At Yale, Kelly rowed on the Yale Women's Crew Team and was chosen by the team to receive the Nathaniel Case Award in three successive years. Kelly Barrett is the First Assistant at the Federal Defender's Office for the District of Connecticut.

CLE 

We have applied for CLE accreditation in states that have mandatory requirements. We regret that we cannot respond to telephone inquiries regarding the status of CLE approval prior to the webinar. All information related to CLE will be emailed to attendees within 15-30 days following the program.

• To minimize reporting fees per attorney/program, if you are barred in more than one of the following states NM, TN, PA, NE, attendance will be reported to one state only.
• The attorney is responsible for making sure the appropriate state and bar number is on file with the DSO Training Division.
• For applicable states, attendance will be reported using the bar number and state(s) listed on the registration form submitted for this program.
• Failure to provide the state and bar number may result in the Training Division not being able to report your attendance.