« "Lincecum’s Endorsement Potential Clouded by Past Marijuana Use" | Main | Seeking ground reports on the FSA's application to not-yet-sentenced cases »

November 2, 2010

When will the US Sentencing Commission's (now overdue?) mandatory minimum report come out?

As noted in this recent post, in October 2009, Congress directed the US Sentencing Commission to undertake a comprehensive review of mandatory minimum sentencing penalties and to report its findings and recommendations to Congress within a year.  I had marked the end of October 2010 as the time when this report was due, but the report has not yet been released and I have heard a rumor that the USSC got some sort of (secret?) extension on its deadline.

I am actually glad the USSC report on mandatory minimum has not come out yet; this week all the news is justifiably focused on today's election and its likely aftermath.  That said, I really would like to know when the US Sentencing Commission plans to release this important report.  (I would also like to know how and from whom the USSC got an extension, but that's not really a big deal if the report is still coming soon.) 

For various reasons, I think the coming lame duck period of Congress might be an especially good time for some needed reforms of some of the worst aspects of existing federal mandatory minimum sentencing provisions (such as, for example, the stacking of 924(c) mandatory minimums).  But it strike me as wise for Congress to await the USSC's forthcoming report before doing much on this front. 

Thus, I hope this (overdue?) USSC report on federal mandatory minimum sentencing provision is going to be coming out in the not too distant future.  I also hope that any readers in the know about this matter will use the comments to report (perhaps anonymously) on just what is now going on in this arena.

November 2, 2010 at 04:52 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e2013488a94cd6970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference When will the US Sentencing Commission's (now overdue?) mandatory minimum report come out?:

Comments

BTW, beware guys, you not only need v4 of Firefox but also have to enable the websockets in a hidden preference:

Posted by: pandora bracelet | Jun 21, 2011 4:10:08 AM

Post a comment

In the body of your email, please indicate if you are a professor, student, prosecutor, defense attorney, etc. so I can gain a sense of who is reading my blog. Thank you, DAB