This Week in Sentencing News: Pot Pardons & Nikolas Cruz

Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Helping us get Set for Sentencing, Professor Doug Berman, author of the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog.  Prof. Berman helps us make sense of two major sentencing events of the past week - President Biden's blanket pardon for federal marijuana possession and a Florida Jury's  non-death verdict in the penalty phase of the trial of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.  

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Big picture of Pres. Biden's pot pardon;
• Historical precedent for "blanket pardons";
• What the future may hold for further action;
• Potential political and practical consequences for state and federal sentencing;
• Whether pardoned conduct can ever really be expunged from your record;
• Dissecting the non-death verdicst for Nicholas Cruz, perpetrator of the horrific Parkland school massacre; and
• What the verdict tells us about the goals of punishment.

LINKS:

Berman's Blog on Sentencing Law and Policy

Set For Sentencing, Ep. 6, "The Devil We Know" another great episode with Prof. Berman doing a deep dive into the US Sentencing Guidelines.