Introduction to USSC Amendment 821 Part A & B: Zero Point Offender / Status Points Reductions

Amendment 821

Policy Priorities: The Commission discussed and voted on the final policy priorities for the period of 2023-2024. These priorities would guide the Commission’s work in establishing sentencing policies and practices for federal courts. Retroactivity of Parts A and B of the 2023 Criminal History Amendment: A significant decision involved voting on the retroactivity of Parts

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SENTENCING COMMISSION VOTES TO MAKE IMPORTANT AMENDMENTS RETROACTIVE TO REDUCE THE SENTENCES OF THOUSANDS

Zero point offender

On August 24, 2023, a divided Commission voted 4-3 to make two new amendments to the Guidelines retroactive.  Assuming no Congressional action to the contrary, these amendments go into effect on November 1, 2023.  The first amendment limits the overall criminal history impact of “status points” (i.e., the additional criminal history points given to defendants for

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Acquitted Conduct Debate

Acquitted Conduct

Tune in to the latest compelling webisode of Set for Sentencing where our co-founder Mark Allenbaugh debates constitutional law professor, Doug Berman on the future of Acquitted Conduct in Federal Sentencing. IN THIS EPISODE: Whether a client should have right to demand that a JURY make the determination as to whether certain sentence enhancements apply;

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Federal Sentencing Commission JSIN “Judicial Sentencing Information” system and why it’s lacking

The US Sentencing Commission created “JSIN” (sounds like “Jason”) as a resource for Judges who want to understand how defendants are really being sentenced under the guidelines. And, currently thirty-one federal jurisdictions are now incorporating JSIN data into the pre-sentence report. But, are the stats accurate? Could these numbers help or harm defendants? IN THIS

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DAY 51

FCI-Lompoc is in the midst of a crisis, which begs the question what other facilities may be experiencing the same. Without data indicating the number of tests being administered by facility–including privately operated ones–no one knows. On Day 51 of its outbreak, the BOP still has nearly twice the number of confirmed infections as the

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