Uncovering Deep Levels of Sentence Mitigation Using Psychodramatic Action Techniques

Psychodrama, sometimes called drama therapy or action therapy, employs role playing to explore emotional and psychological issues. Psychodramatic techniques have seldom been applied in the sentencing phase of noncapital cases – until now.

While often justified as a way to deter violence inside facilities, solitary confinement is more often used to punish non-violent transgressions such as dress code violations, refusal to work, or lack of respect toward correctional officials. Despite the failure of the U.S. Supreme Court to find that solitary confinement per se violates the Eighth Amendment, increasing numbers of stakeholders, including correctional officers, have called for its abolition.

This month Frank Quintero Jr. reviews Judicial Web by Steve Silva.

When the BOP Unlawfully Executes a Client’s Sentence Under the First Step Act

Federal defenders Stephen Sady and Elizabeth Daily offer pointers on enforcing the First Step Act time credits through administrative law and habeas corpus. They provide practitioners with practical ways to begin negotiating, then litigating when necessary, against the BOP’s failure to fully implement the First Step Act’s provisions.

Many states have passed legislation limiting or prohibiting solitary confinement for certain groups, including pregnant women and young people. Although the pace of change has been slow in the solitary confinement landscape, it is moving in the right direction.

The United States Sentencing Commission updated U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13, the policy statement that governs federal reduction-in-sentence motions filed pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). The legal hook for a reduction-in-sentence motion is identifying one or more “extraordinary and compelling” reasons that warrant relief. The authors provide tips for litigating § 3582(c)(1)(A) motions – both the extraordinary and compelling prong and the § 3553(a) prong.

Defense attorney Andrew Mishlove offers five rules – one for defense counsel and four for the client – that serve as a guide to effective sentencing presentations. He writes that a persuasive sentencing presentation encompasses the client’s complete existence, which means it must address the aggravating factors and expose the mitigating factors in the context of an entire human life. How can defense counsel tell a story that puts the crime in context?

The brother of NACDL member JoEllyn Jones was murdered in 1998. Ryan Young was released from prison in 2013, and she ran into him at a restaurant. This was her chance. For years, she rehearsed everything she wanted to say, imagining that she would curse him and tell him that he had torn her family apart. At that moment, however, something inside her shifted. JoEllyn asked Ryan if they could work together – and the healing began.

This month Robert Sanger reviews Mass Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover by Jeffrey Bellin.

This month Sonya Pfeiffer reviews Prisoner of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration by Rachel Elise Barkow.

To achieve a meaningful decarceration (i.e., reducing the number of people in correctional facilities), policymakers must reduce prison admissions and scale back sentence lengths – both for those entering prisons and those already there. The growing movement to take a “second look” at unjust and excessive prison terms is a necessary first step. As the country grapples with an uptick in certain crimes, ending mass incarceration requires accelerating recent reforms and making effective investments in public safety.

Norway stands out as an innovator in corrections reform. The Scandinavian country is increasingly being studied for its success not only in improving living and working conditions for both individuals in custody and staff, but also because of its significantly lower recidivism rates. In Norway, life in prison resembles life outside as closely as possible. People in custody often wear their own clothes, cook in communal kitchens, and live in spaces that look more like dorm rooms than prison cells. Could this work in the United States?

How Holding Space, Education, Empowerment, and Speaking Truth to Power Can Deconstruct a Racist System

The United States incarcerates the most people of any country in the history of the world – and it has chosen whom to incarcerate, starting with people of color first. Oregon defense attorney Justin Rosas writes that any effort at creating a just society is going to involve decarcerating our society, accepting the invitation to truly hear one another, and speaking truth to power about the racial injustice the system was designed to inflict on communities.

Some people believe that mass incarceration is not a bad thing. It is. Mass incarceration is a public health hazard, promotes racism, increases the wealth gap, strains the economy, and increases crime and violence. It is unjustly meted out according to wealth and privilege, and often is most harshly used against the most vulnerable. How can the United States overcome its addiction to incarceration?

Facing Sentencing Guidelines Above Zone C

How can defense counsel utilize a provision within the Criminal Code, implemented by the Sentencing Guidelines, that allows for a split sentence in Zone D cases through the post-imprisonment condition of supervised release? Joseph A. DeMaria and Marissa Koblitz Kingman explain how to argue for the Zone D split sentence.