So very excited for "Frankel at 50: A Half-Century’s Perspective on Criminal Sentences: Law Without Order"

I am so very pleased and excited to start blogging about a day-long program that I have helped put together for next month that should be a "must-see" activity for anyone in the sentencing space, especially in the New York City area.  Specifically, on April 24, 2023, as detailed on this New York City Bar Association webpage and in this complete program agenda, we are doing a full day of sentencing-focused panels as part of an event titled "Frankel at 50: A Half-Century’s Perspective on Criminal Sentences: Law Without Order."   Here is the basic event decription from the NYCBA webpage:

Published in 1973, Judge Marvin Frankel’s book Criminal Sentences: Law Without Order, assailed just about every aspect of existing arbitrary sentencing practices and advocated for the creation of a “commission on sentencing” to be tasked with developing guidelines for “the numerous factors affecting the length or severity of sentences.”  Judge Frankel’s book paved the way for modern sentencing reform, spurring the enactment of numerous sentencing reforms at the state level and the passage of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 which completely rebuilt the federal sentencing system.  As a result, Criminal Sentences: Law Without Order has affected tens of millions of defendants sentenced in state and federal courts over the last half-century.

At the same time, some have suggested his proposals — or at least their implementation — have contributed significantly to the growth of prison populations in recent decades.  Reflecting on Judge Frankel’s book a half-century later can provide profound insights and perspectives on how modern sentencing has evolved and where it should be headed.  The one-day symposium will bring together sentencing experts from academia and law practice to discuss various aspects of Judge Frankel’s ideas, how they have played out over the last half-century, and whether they should guide us for the next fifty years.

This full-day event will include a light breakfast, multiple plenary panels, lunch, two sets of concurrent panels, a fireside chat, and a closing reception.  Please find the day's complete agenda here.

If you click through to see the full program, you will see the extraordinary array of topics planned for discussion by an extraordinary array of judges and practitioners and academics.  I feel incredible fortunate to have had the chance to put this program togther with some many helpful folks assocaited with the Council on Criminal Justice, the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, and the New York City Bar Association. 

Because this is an in-person event, folks will need to make their way to NYC to participate (but the program certainly justifies the trip).  In addition, in conjunction with this event, the we have solicited a big set of article for a "Frank at 50" special issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter.  So, though not the same as a trip to the Big Apple, folks who cannot make it to the event can still keep an eye out for a future FSR issue on these topics.