The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in mid-February granted a petition asking it to consider whether the mandatory sentence for murder in the second degree — life without parole — is unconstitutional under ...

When Judges Can’t Judge: The Human Cost of Mandatory Sentences Because prosecutors decide which charges to file, or in other words, which mandatory penalties to trigger, they control the sentencing ...

It was clear Judge Roy Dalton was fed up. The case before him involved a homeless drug addict who’d taken $30 from a man he didn’t know to hop on his bike and deliver a package of drugs. Was it wrong?

Federal laws passed in the 1980's provided the same prison sentence for dealing in five grams of crack cocaine as for 500 grams of powder, a ratio of 100-to-1. But it turned out that the so-called ...

A good deal of fanfare accompanied Gov. Katie Hobbs’ signing of a law on Wednesday that increases prison time for fentanyl dealers. Law enforcement officials who flanked the governor hailed the law as ...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that mandatory life sentences for second-degree murder are unconstitutional — a significant decision that is likely to reshape a portion of state law ...

Pa. Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory Life Sentences for 2nd-Degree Murder The state’s highest court held that Pennsylvania’s sentencing violates the state constitution by failing to account for ...

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Federal Public & Community Defenders submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ...

A sign on a door at the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is pictured at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Feb. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) HARRISBURG, Pa. (CN) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. May 30—HARRISBURG — A conviction for second-degree murder in Pennsylvania brings a mandatory life sentence without parole, a ...