These are complicated times in criminal law. The death penalty as a ultimate punishment has been repealed in Connecticut, but new ways to commit crimes continue to created.
Mandatory minimum sentences continue to be established, but the U.S. Attorney General suggests—at least on paper—that his prosecutors seek those sentences less often. And while the public seems to clamor for longer and longer sentences for convicted wrongdoers, those looking at balancing a tight state budget are trying to reduce prison population and costs of incarceration.
