Women battered by life and law lose twice
Article Abstract:
The only criminal defense available for battered women who commit crimes because their abusers push them to is coercion. The most difficult part of this defense is providing proof that the woman had no chance to avoid being abused if she did not commit the crime. It is difficult for even expert witnesses to overcome the view that women can leave their abusers. The federal system provides special difficulties for battered women accused of crimes since the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines deprive judges of the discretion to consider the battering as a mitigating circumstance.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1993
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Courts split on sentence reduction issue
Article Abstract:
The revised Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35(b), introduced by the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 to take effect in 1987, places the power to move for a sentence reduction in the hands of the government rather than the defendant, who needs to have provided substantial cooperation. Since the new sentencing guidelines for corporations did not take effect until Nov 1, 1991, crimes committed by corporate defendants between 1987 and 1991 can have two different sentencing systems apply to them. Federal courts have disagreed in their resolutions of this.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1993
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A failed utopian experiment
Article Abstract:
The US Sentencing Guidelines are a failed experiment. The premise that a reliance on mathematical formulae would solve the occasional inequities in judicial discretion was questionable. The guidelines require a large bureaucracy, are cumbersome to administer in the courtroom and sentencing hearings attempting to follow them are lengthy and sometimes incomprehensible. The guidelines should be done away with but some of the other changes brought about by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 should be kept.
Publication Name: The National Law Journal
Subject: Law
ISSN: 0162-7325
Year: 1992
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