The new Amendments to the United States Sentencing Guidelines take effect tomorrow, November 1, 2024. The 2024 Guidelines Manual Annotated, available here, offers quick integrated access to guidelines history and reasons for amendments.
Here are some of the important changes in the 2024 manual:
Following up on the Supreme Court's Padilla v. Kentucky holding that non-citizen criminal defendants must be advised of any risk of deportation associated with a guilty plea, En banc Second Circuit: If a guilty plea could lead to denaturalization and deportation, lawyers must advise their clients of that fact or they're giving unconstitutionally ineffective counsel.
In 2022, a district judge finds Hinds County, Miss. officials in contempt of a federal consent decree after monitors report that a portion of its jail is essentially run by gangs. About 30 cells are used as dumpsters. Lights don't work. The majority of cell doors do not lock. Inmates regularly escape through the roof and return with contraband. Disliked inmates are assaulted, not allowed to eat. (Two such inmates are discovered emaciated and covered in feces and sores.) Hinds County: The real "constitutional abomination" here is the consent decree, which is the cause of all these problems.
It's been said that "we are all textualists now." But how should the court interpret the text of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual after it has "exhausted all sources from which interpretive guidance may be derived," is "convinced that the parties' respective interpretations are in equipoise," and fears that "by accepting either side's interpretation, [it] would be hazarding a mere 'guess as to what [the Sentencing Commission] intended'"? Probation Office: group the counts and sentence.
Texan meth and fentanyl importer pleads guilty in 2022 and receives a "career-offender enhancement" at sentencing. He objects because his prior marijuana convictions wouldn't have been "controlled substance offenses" after 2018 reforms. Fifth Circuit: We agree, and thus also agree with three other circuits.
The case is United States v. Minor, 22-51083 (5th Cir. Nov. 20, 2024).
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the DEA will cease its "cold consent encounters" at airports, during which agents demand to search people's bags while telling them things like, "I don't need your consent." The suspension coincides with an inspector general report condemning the practice (access full artic
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed MacArthur Justice Center Executive Director Amir Ali to the federal trial court in Washington, D.C. (access full article).
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has appointed Richard McWilliams as the next Federal Public Defender for the District of Nebraska.
The Commission released its Preliminary FY24 Fourth Quarterly Sentencing Update.
In FY24, 61,137 individuals were sentenced federally—representing a decrease from the previous fiscal year. Nearly equal proportions of individuals were sentenced for a drug (30.0%) or immigration (29.7%) offense.
Yesterday, the United States Sentencing Commission issued a press release announcing proposed amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines for the amendment cycle ending May 1, 2025. Among the proposals are those that would: