Filip Expresses Concern About the Return of Sentencing Disparities

jailed womanFormer U.S. Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip warned at Tuesday’s Hallows Lecture that disparities in sentencing by federal judges are returning since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled five years ago that sentencing guidelines are only advisory.

Filip, who also is a former federal judge and now practices with a Chicago law firm, said that United States v. Booker in 2005 reduced the import of sentencing guidelines that dated to the late 1980s, “returning us to an era of indeterminate sentencing.” While he said that commentary on Booker from both judges and defense lawyers has been generally favorable, data on sentencing patterns since the decision show that in different parts of the country, significantly different sentences are being given for comparable convictions. 

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Troubling Trends in the Federal Criminal Justice System

In his terrific Hallows Lecture yesterday evening, former U.S. District Judge Mark Filip criticized a number of recent trends in the federal criminal justice system, including the use of return-on-investment measures of law enforcement success and the requirement that corporations suspected of wrongdoing retain costly compliance monitors.  Audio of the Lecture is now available here.  We expect to post the text of Judge Filip’s remarks and additional commentary in the next few days.

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Barrett’s Valley, Walker’s Corridor

What’s the difference between Tom Barrett and Scott Walker?

The Menomonee Valley versus the Park East corridor.

Barrett, the Milwaukee mayor who is the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, tried out that answer Thursday at an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at the Law School. Chances are you’ll hear it a lot more in coming months as Barrett battles with Walker, the Milwaukee county executive who is the leading candidate for the Republican nomination.

Barrett said that the city was responsible for what to do with vacant land in the Menomonee Valley, and, in recent years, attracted companies which employ about 2,000 people to the western part of the area south of I-94 and west of downtown (presumably, that doesn’t include the Potawatomi gambling complex).

Milwaukee County is responsible for the Park East land, the former freeway zone that runs along the north edge of downtown. 

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