Summarizing the USSC 15-year report (and recent posts)

In this post, I urged everyone considering a legislative response to Booker to review the US Sentencing Commission's recently released 15-year report, since charting a future for federal sentencing requires understanding its past.  The full USSC report can be accessed here, its executive summary can be accessed here, and my summary of the executive summary is here. 

Because the report runs 150 pages, I asked a research assistant to help me spotlight some of the most essential findings of the central chapters of the report.  My RA did a great job producing a 19-page document which summarizes key findings and reprints key charts and graphs from Chapters 2-4 of the USSC's 15-year report.  Thinking others might benefit from his work, I provide this summary for downloading here:

Download ussc_15year_report_summary.doc

And while we are in summary mode, given all the major doings over just the last few days, I thought it would be useful to summarize (in a topical way) some of the recent developments and posts.  So:

Circuit court Booker developments and commentary

• Booker burdens in the 2d Circuit and elsewhere
• The 10th Circuit speaks on harmless error!
• The 11th Circuit speaks (loudly) on plain error!
• Circuit pacing, process and plans
• An intra-circuit split in the 6th Circuit on plain error!

District court Booker developments and other commentary

• Justifying "variance" to remedy unwarranted disparity caused by the guidelines
• More amazing post-Booker work by Judge Adelman
• Booker debate continues with another potent district opinion
• Report from a great Yale Booker panel
• Another perspective on Justice Ginsburg's switch

State Blakely developments

• Tennessee "Blakely fix" news
• Big Blakely/Booker case from Ohio