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    Michael Ohear

    Marquette University, Law, Faculty Member
    ... Indeed, indeterminate sentencing is commonly thought to conflict with retributivism, the dominant approach to punishment theory today.... Yet, indeterminate sentencing typically contemplates that an offender's actual release date... more
    ... Indeed, indeterminate sentencing is commonly thought to conflict with retributivism, the dominant approach to punishment theory today.... Yet, indeterminate sentencing typically contemplates that an offender's actual release date from prison (and hence the actual ...
    Good-time programs have long been an important part of the American penal landscape. At least twenty-nine states and the federal government currently offer prison inmates early release, sometimes by many years, in return for good... more
    Good-time programs have long been an important part of the American penal landscape. At least twenty-nine states and the federal government currently offer prison inmates early release, sometimes by many years, in return for good behavior. Written a generation ago, the leading scholarly article on the subject presented a strong case against good time, which has yet to be effectively addressed. Although good time is traditionally justified by reference to its usefulness in deterring inmate misconduct — credits can be denied or withdrawn as a penalty for violations of prison rules — the article questioned how it could possibly be just to impose additional incarceration based on mere violations of administrative regulations.In response to this important challenge, the present Essay proposes a new way to conceptualize good-time credits, specifically, as a way to recognize atonement. Drawing on increasingly influential communicative theories of punishment, the Essay argues that good time...
    Abstract: To the lawyers and judges who work in the criminal justice system, plea bargaining seems an efficient, fair, and perhaps even necessary means of resolving the ever-increasing number of criminal cases they face. However, to those... more
    Abstract: To the lawyers and judges who work in the criminal justice system, plea bargaining seems an efficient, fair, and perhaps even necessary means of resolving the ever-increasing number of criminal cases they face. However, to those who view plea bargaining from the ...
    ... 499, 559--64 (1981). Explaining the meaning of "faith and credit," Whitten argues that the legislative intent was most likely to guarantee admission of sister-state judgments into evidence. Id. at 557-59. ... See Whitten,... more
    ... 499, 559--64 (1981). Explaining the meaning of "faith and credit," Whitten argues that the legislative intent was most likely to guarantee admission of sister-state judgments into evidence. Id. at 557-59. ... See Whitten, supra note 40. at 571-72. ...
    Despite the Supreme Court's 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, which enhanced the power of district court judges to sentence defendants below the range prescribed by the federal sentencing guidelines, the great majority of... more
    Despite the Supreme Court's 2005 decision in United States v. Booker, which enhanced the power of district court judges to sentence defendants below the range prescribed by the federal sentencing guidelines, the great majority of federal sentences continue to follow the guidelines' recommendations. As defendants have challenged these practices, one commonly litigated issue has been the question of whether district court judges are obligated to explain themselves when they reject a defendant's argument for a below-guidelines sentence. In the immediate aftermath of Booker, a handful of federal circuits adopted such an explanation requirement. Since 2005, however, the tide has turned, and the initial pro-explanation holdings have been undermined by later decisions. Against this backdrop, the present Article provides the first systematic account of the rise and fall of the explanation requirement for federal sentences, attributing the fall to the courts' framing of t...
    This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=869461. ... Michael M. O'Hear Associate Professor of Law Marquette University Law School... more
    This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=869461. ... Michael M. O'Hear Associate Professor of Law Marquette University Law School Sensenbrenner Hall PO Box 1881 Milwaukee, ...
    This brief essay serves two purposes. The first is to make some general observations about criminal appeals. It thus outlines the substantial institutional and doctrinal differences between the appellate process in civil and criminal... more
    This brief essay serves two purposes. The first is to make some general observations about criminal appeals. It thus outlines the substantial institutional and doctrinal differences between the appellate process in civil and criminal cases, notes the relative lack of scholarship devoted to the criminal appellate process, and suggests that the role of the judge in criminal cases is undertheorized. The second is to introduce the pieces in a symposium issue of the Marquette Law Review, most of which was presented at a conference held at Marquette University Law School and entitled “Criminal Appeals: Past, Present, and Future.”