When Justice Depends on It: The Need for Professional Standards for Mitigation in All Criminal Cases
Mitigation has been an integral part of death penalty defense for decades and there are minimum standards that apply in that context. When an early and thorough mitigation workup occurs, good things happen. But, many non-capital attorneys don’t recognize the need to adopt this approach in their everyday criminal matters. Without good mitigation, even in…
A Child’s Poison: Lead Poisoning as Sentencing Mitigation with Dr. Ted Lidsky
The government often weaves false sentencing narratives about our clients: they are born bad, uncontrollably violent, no concern for others, no respect for the law. There’s always a more truthful, powerful, and humanistic story to tell. And in some of those cases that story could be LEAD POISONING! The fact is, the probability of those…
Life in the Shadow of Death, With Cyndy Short
Cyndy Short has been representing those accused of the worst crimes imaginable for most of her career – and she has NEVER had a client sentenced to death on her watch. She understands that sometimes what makes a lawyer great isn’t their legal abilities, but their human abilities. In other words, it’s time for lawyers to…
Across the Pond: Sentencing in the United Kingdom
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! We like to think the United States has “the greatest system in the world.” But do we? There’s simply no way to answer that question until we learn how other countries adjudicate crime. Helping us get Set for Sentencing is Prof. Julian Roberts,…
This Week in Sentencing News: Pot Pardons & Nikolas Cruz
Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts! Helping us get Set for Sentencing, Professor Doug Berman, author of the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog. Prof. Berman helps us make sense of two major sentencing events of the past week – President Biden’s blanket pardon for federal marijuana possession and a…
A View From the Bench: Sentencing Expert Alan Ellis Discusses His Interviews with 40+ Judges About What Matters at Sentencing
Watch on YOUTUBE or LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS Helping us get set for sentencing, attorney Alan Ellis. He’s an expert in all things sentencing and post-conviction relief and the author of the wildly popular Federal Prison Guidebook. IN THIS EPISODE: The importance of knowing your Judge; How to develop mental health mitigation; The need to…
Presumed Punishable: Antiracism at Sentencing
WATCH ON YOUTUBE or LISTEN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLATFORM Black Americans and other minorities are disproportionally represented in the numbers of those charged, the kinds of charges they face, and the length of sentences imposed. The question is WHY? The answer is far from simple, but it’s one that everyone needs to better understand.…
The Devil You Know: The “Funny Math” of the Guidelines, Proposed Fixes, and Lessons Learned From Capital Defense.
Helping us get Set For Sentencing, Prof. Douglas Berman. He is is the Newton D. Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and Executive Director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, housed in the Moritz College of Law of The Ohio State University. Professor Berman is the creator and author of the widely-read and widely-cited blog, Sentencing Law…