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Report
Dealing in Lives: Imposition of Federal Life Sentences for Drugs from 1990–2020
Abstract Summary

The “tough on crime” era of the 1980s and 1990s ushered in a growing reliance on prisons, the ratcheting up of sentence lengths, and a broader expansion of the criminal justice system. Life sentences, historically rarely imposed, became increasingly commonplace in the 1980s through the 2000s, contributing to the ballooning imprisoned population. While there are growing concerns about the increased use of life sentences in the United States, there has been limited empirical study of these sentences. This report seeks to fill this gap with a particular focus on the federal sentencing system and the imposition of life sentences for drug offenses. Specifically, the current report documents federal life sentences imposed for drug trafficking over the last three decades, taking a closer look at the defendant and case-specific characteristics, and providing a descriptive account of the factors that are associated with those sentenced to life in prison in federal courts.

Report
How State Reforms Have Mellowed Federal Enforcement of Marijuana Prohibition
Abstract Summary

This paper from DEPC Executive Director Douglas A. Berman and Senior Research Associate Dr. Alex Fraga documents and examines critically the remarkable recent decline in the number of federal marijuana sentences imposed as states have begun fully legalizing marijuana for all uses by adults. The paper is forthcoming in the Fordham Urban Law Journal (March 2022).

Report
Special Symposium Issue of Federal Sentencing Reporter: Understanding Drug Sentencing
Abstract Summary

Volume 34, Issue 1 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter contains articles generated in connection with the Understanding Drug Sentencing and its Contributions to Mass Punishment symposium co-hosted by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and the Academy for Justice.

Report
Special Conference Issue of Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law: CSA at 50
Abstract Summary

Volume 18.1 of the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law contains articles generated as a result of The Controlled Substance Act at 50 Years conference co-sponsored by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and the Academy for Justice.

Event Recordings

Drug Sentencing Focus Area Experts

Drugs on the Docket Podcast Episodes

Drugs on the Docket explores how U.S. court rulings—primarily those handed down from the Supreme Court—impact drug law and policy and continue to shape the War on Drugs. Drugs on the Docket unpacks various ways courts have engaged with and responded to the opioid epidemic, police discretion, the sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine, and more. The series, hosted by Hannah Miller, invites guests with expertise in criminal justice, drug policy, and drug enforcement to help us break down the sometimes complex and always interesting stories behind today’s drug law landscape.

The following episodes are related to drug sentencing. For episode show notes, links to listen, and see the full listing of episodes, visit the Drugs on the Docket page.

Host Hannah Miller and co-host Doug Berman, executive director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, speak with the Honorable Judge Carlton W. Reeves, Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission and U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. Judge Reeves discusses his role as Chair of the Sentencing Commission and the recent activities of the Commission, including efforts taken to reform the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Host Hannah Miller and co-host Doug Berman are taking a second look at Season 1 Episode 5, the United States Sentencing Commission, and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Listen as they discuss an amendment to the current sentencing guidelines, the research that led to this policy change, and the impact the amendment could have on thousands of incarcerated individuals.

Host Hannah Miller and co-host Doug Berman reflect on Season 1 Episode 4, and delve further into the history and inequitable application of mandatory minimum sentences and current legislative efforts to improve the federal legal system. Listen as they explore the upcoming case before SCOTUS, Pulsifer v. United States, and its potential to widen or narrow the safety valve through which thousands of federal defendants could find some relief from their mandatory minimum sentences.

Host Hannah Miller and co-host Doug Berman look back at Season 1 Episode 1, providing updates and insights into the continued struggle to change the crack to powder cocaine ratio from 18:1 to 1:1 and further reduce unwarranted sentencing disparities.

In this episode, host Hannah Miller and co-host Douglas Berman, executive director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, speak with Doug Passon and Mark Allenbaugh. Passon is a criminal defense lawyer of over twenty-five years, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and host of the Set for Sentencing podcast. Allenbaugh is an attorney and entrepreneur with nationally-recognized expertise in federal sentencing, law, policy and practice, and is a co-founder of Sentencing Stats, LLC. Passon and Allenbaugh discuss the newly resurrected U.S. Sentencing Commission and the importance of data and storytelling when it comes to federal drug sentencing.

In this episode, host Hannah Miller and co-host Erik Luna, executive director of the Academy for Justice at Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, speak with Weldon Angelos and former United States District Court Judge Paul Cassell. In 2004, Angelos was sentenced to a mandatory 55-year prison term for a low-level marijuana offense due to the mandatory application of stacked firearm sentencing terms. Cassell, who presided over Angelos’ case, authored a pathbreaking opinion, calling the de facto life sentence “cruel, unjust, and irrational.” After serving twelve years of his sentence, Angelos’ family, and others championing his case, secured an early release. Since then, Angelos has become an activist, working with public officials to end cannabis prohibition and reform the federal criminal justice system. Today, Cassell is a professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.

In our inaugural episode, host Hannah Miller and co-host Douglas Berman, executive director of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, speak with Mark Osler, American legal scholar and law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Osler played a role in clarifying that federal judges no longer had to follow the 100-to-1 ratio between crack and powder cocaine in the federal sentencing guidelines by winning the 2009 case of Spears v. United States in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Blogs

Sentencing Law and Policy blog

Authored by DEPC Executive Director Douglas A. Berman