OSJCL Amici launches with four district judges on Gall and Kimbrough
I am very proud to announce that this week the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law has “officially launched” a new scholarly project: an on-line companion website that will publish commentaries from practitioners on cutting-edge criminal law. As explained here, OSJCL Amici: Views from the Field, in aspires to “help bridge divide between the academy and the practicing community by creating a venue for leading practitioners to engage with academics, students, the public, and others in the criminal law field.”
The official launch includes publication of original commentaries by four district judges discussing federal sentencing after last month’s Gall and Kimbrough rulings:
- Judge Richard Kopf of the District of Nebraska takes a Letterman-esque “Top Ten” view of the sentencing world as interpreted by Supreme Court decisions.
- Judge Gerard Lynch of the Southern District of New York emphasizes the “guideline” nature of the Sentencing Guidelines.
- Judge Lynn Adelman and law clerk Jon Deitrich of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, ask us to “curb our enthusiasm” for the twin decisions, which—they argue—do not go quite far enough.
- Judge Nancy Gertner of the District of Massachusetts identifies both the apparent blessings and the less-obvious dangers of the Court’s holdings.
Future on-line commentaries will come from practicing lawyers as well as judges, and we expect to cover a diverse range of topics at OSJCL Amici. A lot of effort has gone into creating a distinctive on-line companion to OSJCL; I hope many folks (especially legal practitioners) will check out the first offering of essays and will share feedback on both the substance and style of this new endeavor.