Federal Sentencing Law (2032): This seminar will explore sentencing law and procedure, with particular attention to the federal system. After brief general consideration of the purposes of sentencing and of the rationales for determinate and indeterminate sentencing regimes, we will proceed to a detailed examination of the mechanics of the federal sentencing guidelines, their authorizing legislation, the three decades of judicial interpretation, the role of the US Sentencing Commission as policy maker, the boundaries of judicial discretion, and the norms and strategies of plea bargaining under the guidelines. The overall goal is pragmatic--to help students become "literate" (and "numerate") with the system. Each student will do two brief presentations on weekly material and then produce a 20-page paper on a topic to be selected with the instructor's approval. There is no casebook to purchase. All materials will be documents posted on CANVAS. To enable the class to be interactive, enrollment will be limited to 20 students, to be selected by the lottery system. The only prerequisite is completion of the first-year course in Criminal Law, so applicants must be 2Ls or 3Ls, and transfer students must have already taken the course in substantive criminal law at SLS or at their previous law school. Elements used in grading: Attendance, class participation, class presentations, and a final paper.