Singular Case News Today

The following has been adapted from Darwin’s Love of Life: A Singular Case of Biophilia by Kay Harel. The Glories and Limits of Facts In one of those true

A 12-year-old committing a sexual act. so as the government said in this case, im quoting from the transcript, 17 videos is a lot. and some of the videos, including the one in the statement. offense, and i just related some of them, are very lengthy and include numerous images, numerous views, styles collages. you see the act in progress. the government described some of them as saddo masochistic. this was a tough case. you were referencing it earlier. these cases are terrible. this is one of th...

That the statutes include with the requirements that congress has set forward. unwarranted sentencing disparities is something that the sentencing commission has been focused on for a long time in regard to child pornography offenses. all the offenses are horrible. all the offenses are egregious. but the guidelines, as you pointed out, are being departed from even with respect to the governments recommendation. the government in this case, and in others, has asked for a sentence that is substant...

The prosecutor in this case, in d.c., youre on the federal district court. the prosecutor in this case, a liberal administration. i think it is fair to say, in the state of texas. the prosecutor in this case nevertheless still asked for two full years in prison. you gave the defendant three months. the guidelines called for ten years. the prosecutor wanted at least two. you gave him three months. when did you, you made a number of arguments and statements on the record and i would love to go thr...

Exploited, in this kind of material. i dont understand you saying to him that theyre peers. and that therefore, you were viewing sex acts between children not much younger than you and that is somehow a reason to only give him three months. help me understand this. >> senator, i dont have the record of that entire case in front of me. what i recall with respect to that case is that unlike the many other child pornography offenders that i had seen as a judge and that i was aware of in my work on ...

Not recommending guideline sentences. the probation office which is an independent authority, looking at these cases and the facts related to them are not recommending guideline sentences. this is a particular area where the commission has seen an enormous amount of disparity and is in fact asked congress to come back and address, to help judges who are looking at these cases to be able to rely on the guidelines. >> which congress has declined to do. >> senator, in that case, we have the statute...

Are. but it is not as if there is one set of guidelines that a federal sentencing guidelines and others are the probation guidelines. the probation office is giving advice to the judge. it varies case by case but it is not the same. >> sorry. i thought you were done. >> let me ask but a specific case. i listed these seven cases in which you had discretion and you did not follow the prosecutors recommendation. lets talk about one of them. weve talked about them as a group. lets talk about the uni...

Breaking news week, following the historic u.s. nomination hearings for judge kentanji brown jackson. lets go live to the u.s. senate where the question and answer questions is underway. senator josh hawley, republican, asking the questions. >> the probation office doesnt issue sentencing guidelines. theyre not public. theyre not recommended to all judges. the probation office provides advice to judges case by case, usually in private. usually not available to the public. is that right, judge? >...

It is about all the other kinds of restraint that sex offenders are ordered rightly to live under at the end of the day. sentences in these cases include not only prison time but restraints on computer use. sometimes for decades. restraints on ability to go near children. sometime for decades. all of these things judges consider in order to effect what congress has required, which is a sentence that is sufficient but not greater than necessary. to promote the purposes of punishment. >> let me as...

In the company of sonia sotomayor in that respect. so it does give her an opportunity to do something that i think her supporters believe makes her an asset. she has a lot of experience as a judge in a lot of different areas. she understands a lot of different aspects of the criminal justice system. and that was very much on display. the fact that senator hawley spent a lot of time on this singular case was probably to no effect. i dont think it really changes the dynamic of her nomination. and,...