By Rita Dermody
Collection Access Services Librarian
Discussion of criminal law practice and sentencing in Washington is limited to a few publications. Washington Practice is the seminal treatise and practice guide on civil and criminal law. Volumes 12 and 13 discuss criminal procedure while volumes 13A and 13B discuss criminal law, sentencing and sentencing alternatives.
The Washington Sentencing Guidelines Commission publishes the Adult Sentencing Guidelines Manual and the Juvenile Disposition Manual for practitioners and judges, which discuss the appropriate standard sentence range for an offense. These can be found at http://www.sgc.wa.gov/.
Honorable Ronald Kessler publishes the Criminal Caselaw Notebook, which gathers together Washington case law on criminal law and is arranged by subtopic. The Washington State Bar Association Criminal Law Section publishes the Annual Washington Criminal Justice Institute, which is an excellent source of current issues in criminal law.
At the federal level, the library has in its collection Federal Sentencing Law and Practice by Thomas W. Hutchison. This annual publication from West contains extensive comments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines by the authors.
From Aspen Publishers, we have Practice Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 4th ed., edited by Phylis Skloot Bamberger and David J. Gottlieb. And finally, from Law Journal Press, we have Corporate Sentencing Guidelines: Compliance and Mitigation, by Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, which focuses on organizational sentencing guidelines. Please visit the library and review these materials.
