Stories of severe federal sentences and the judges forced to impose them

Two different news sources this morning have these two equally interesting pieces about federal sentencing practices and federal judges struggling with their sentencing responsibilities:

• From Vice/The Marshall Project here, “What It’s Like to Meet the Men You Sentence to Prison: A judge opens up about the hardest part of his job.”

• From The Washington Post here, “A drug dealer got a life sentence and was devastated. So was the judge who sentenced him.”