In modern times it has been the epicenter of America's judicial bloodlust, handing out a staggering 294 death sentences and executing more people than any other county in the nation.
What a staggering difference time makes!
(The "What If" embedded in that last sentence is staggering).
Late on Wednesday evening, the U.S. Senate passed, by unanimous consent no less, a long-overdue bill that will help to reform one of the most egregious aspects of our nation's criminal justice system — the staggering 100 to 1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses.
Days Without End is a work of staggering openness; its startlingly beautiful sentences are so capacious that they are hard to leave behind, its narrative so propulsive that you must move on.
What happens when writers like VAMP are sentenced to a staggering three and a half years in prison?
In keeping with Louisiana's habitual offenders law, Noble, who had two prior cocaine possession charges and a prior marijuana possession charge (he admits that he was a coke addict in the 90s), was sentenced to a staggering 13 and 1/3 years in prison for simple marijuana possession, a nonviolent offense.
DS Stuart Parsons said, after the woman's sentencing on Monday: "It is staggering to think that the mother's wilful actions resulted in the children undergoing unnecessary surgical and medical interventions.
Combined, these have led to inflation in sentencing, damaging over-use of custody and staggering increases in the prison population - from just over 60,000 people in 1997 to more than 81,000 today.
Political rhetoric, disjointed legislation and scaremongering in the popular press have led to inflation in sentencing, damaging over-use of custody and staggering increases in the prison population - from just over 60,000 people in 1997 to almost 81,000 today.
