The move to determinate sentencing in the federal and state systems a generation ago has produced a serious overincarceration problem. It has many dimensions, and the efforts to address it include calls for: bail reform; reforms to mandatory sentencing laws; less harsh sentencing guidelines; “second look” mechanisms for lengthy prison terms; more diversion and alternative to incarceration programs; and better re-entry programs.

This presentation will focus on one such effort in the federal system – the “No-Entry” programs designed to identify categories of federal defendants who over the past 30 years have routinely been sentenced to prison unnecessarily, and to deal with them in ways that are not only more productive, more humane, less expensive, and more protective of their communities, but also turn their lives around, making them the best possible advertisements for the programs. Former U.S. District Judge John Gleeson will describe two such programs in the Eastern District of New York — a drug court and a youthful offender court — and the growing grassroots movement in the federal system those programs helped to inspire.

The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.