Sentencing Commission and Congressional Legislative Updates
By Derek Gilna
On April
30, the U.S. Sentencing Commission promulgated its newest white-collar
sentencing reforms, which will have the effect of lowering sentences for most
offenders. That new sentencing change will go into effect in November unless
changed by Congress (which has never happened.)
There is no word yet on whether said changes will be retroactive.
Additionally, the Smart Sentencing Act continues to work its way through Congress,
and hopefully will gain some traction in the coming months as candidates try to
position themselves as ahead of the curve on social reform, highlighted by the
riots against police misconduct in Baltimore and demonstrations in major cities
across the country on this and similar social justice issues.
In the past week, I commented on
Hillary Clinton’s most recent major speech which focused on sentencing and
incarceration reform. Although that
speech carved out no new ground and offered no immediate legislative solutions,
it did put these two oft-ignored subjects front and center into the
Presidential race. Floating these ideas
early in the election cycle was a low-risk method of gauging public opinion on
them before the campaign really gets into full-swing, and gives her a chance to
respond to any negative reactions. Although
almost everything Hillary says is automatically attacked by her opponents,
these comments were not. This is
significant for several reasons.
One,
Congressmen and Senators are not leaders, and shun controversy. Widespread
public condemnation of recent police and prosecutorial misconduct, coupled with
Hillary’s comments, has created political cover for legislators to actually do
something to promote sentence reform.
Two,
contrary to what the media says, there is little to no difference between the
major political parties on any major issue, other than nonsensical social ones
that arguably should NOT be an area of government concern anyway (like abortion
and same-sex marriage). Getting out front on an issue like sentence relief and
prison reform allows a candidate to set himself or herself apart from the rest
of the “suits” as a compassionate, forward-thinking individual worthy of a
vote, while also allowing them to emphasize economic and tax savings from a
reduction of prisoner counts.
Third, the
speech shows that the “War on crime” is, if not dead, on life support. “Soft on Crime” is also a campaign
catch-phrase that is D.O.A. There is no
major public figure in either party seeking longer sentences or seeking an
increase in prisoner counts.
I would be
pleased to work with you in reviewing your case and seeing if you are entitled
to relief, either from sentencing errors,
poor defense attorney representation, inadequate or deliberately indifferent prison
medical care, or failure to grant a deserved compassionate release.
Federal Legal Center, Inc.
Derek Gilna
113 McHenry #173
(847) 878-0160
dgilna1948@yahoo.com
