Among its many provisions, the First Step Act (FSA) provides opportunities for certain individuals to earn time credits (separate from good t
The U.S.
Today, Judge Carlton W. Reeves, Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, announced the appointment of nine individuals to serve on the newly established Sentence Impact Advisory Group (SIAG). Advisory groups provide Commissioners with important perspectives that help them in policy making and ensure fairness in federal sentencing. The newly appointed SIAG members include those individuals who have been impacted by federal sentencing or have family members that have been.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission on Wednesday said it will consider potential reforms to the federal sentencing guidelines for fraud offenses, including the outsized role of loss calculation in sentencing, one of several priorities the agency has marked for closer examination. See Press Release.
Utah man pleads guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agrees to criminally forfeit a lot of land. Uh oh! It's not his land, but rather is owned by a friend and former employee—though it was partially paid off with tainted money from the criminal enterprise. Tenth Circuit (over a dissent): The gov't may have had other ways to get at tainted proceeds, but taking land that was always owned by a third party isn't one of them.
Interpreters play a vital role in ensuring fair and just criminal proceedings, particularly for defendants with limited English proficiency.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Fernandez v. United States, No. 24-556 (May 27, 2025) (cert. granted), to decide “whether a combination of ‘extraordinary and compelling reasons’ that may warrant a discretionary sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(a) can include reasons that may also be alleged as grounds for vacatur of a sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.”
Perpetrators of cryptocurrency theft and extortion are convicted and ordered to pay $83,000 restitution. Oops! The gov't requested restitution for the victims in amounts equal to the value of the crypto when it was stolen, not its much-higher value at the time of sentencing. District court: My hands are tied. Ninth Circuit: Not that tightly.
Los Angeles sheriff's deputy Trevor Kirk is convicted of a federal felony for using excessive force by a jury, but the new administration petitions the court to reduce his offense to a misdemeanor. It does, and the officer is sentenced to four months. Can the victim oppose the reduction? Ninth Circuit: Our hands are tied.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has issued a press release about an internal memorandum to all wardens in the BOP stating, “To be clear, FSA [First Step Act] and SCA [Second Chance Act] authorities are cumulative and shall be applied in sequence to maximize prerelease custody, including home confinement (HC). Residential Reentry Center (RRC) bed availability/capacity shall not be a barrier to HC when an individual is statutorily eligible and appropriate for such placement.”