This new seminar will focus on the process of imposing sentences in criminal cases, administering punishment, and attempting rehabilitation of convicted criminals. The course will first provide background regarding the purposes of punishment and the history of mandatory sentences, presumptive sentences, and sentencing guidelines, and focus on some of these issues in more detail through the use of a expert guest lecturers and a tour of the Federal Correctional Facility in Butner, NC. The guest speakers will likely include a representative from the United States Sentencing Commission, a federal district judge, a federal warden, a federal probation officer, and former federal prisoners. The course will conclude with an analysis of a pilot project recently created in the Western District of North Carolina to accomplish retraining and rehabilitation of federal prisoners. Students will be expected to participate meaningfully in the lectures, guest speakers and field trip, and produce a research paper on a related topic.

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