PAG follow-up on recent USSC hearings
I have received a copy of a letter that the Practitioners’ Advisory Group sent Monday to the US Sentencing Commission, which follows up on a number of topics covered during the USSC’s Booker hearings in mid February (hearing highlights and commentary are linked here). The letter, which can be downloaded below, is captioned “Supplemental Comments About Sentencing and Reporting Procedures, Victim Participation, and Procedural Reform.”
Perhaps the letter’s most noteworthy feature is its extended engagement with issues relating to victim participation in sentencing matters, an issue spotlighted by Judge Paul Cassell in his USSC testimony and in recent posts here and here. Also interesting is the PAG letter’s discussion of a post-Booker sentencing checklist distributed by Judge Weinstein to the federal defenders, judges and magistrates in the Eastern District of New York. I also provide that checklist for downloading below.