A woman who helped run an incestuous child sex ring in Alabama for decades was sentenced to 219 years in prison today, the maximum penalty in her case and an effective life sentence.

America has an incarceration crisis. We imprison a much larger percentage of our citizenry than anyone else. We need to fix this. We do not need to fix it by selectively imprisoning people for futurecrimes that have not yet occurred.

A Dallas court is trying smooth things over after ordering a convicted rapist to volunteer 250 hours at a rape crisis center earlier this month.

A new investigation by the ACLU has found more than 3,000 people in this country who are serving life sentences without parole for nonviolent crimes, like drugs or theft. Unless something changes, these people will die in prison.

Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach whose repeated child sexual assault was ignored or covered up by multiple Penn State officials, was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison today.

The would-be suicide bomber who, in 2009, failed to blow-up a Detroit-bound international flight but succeeded in burning his genitals was sentenced to life in prison without parole today.

Back in 2009, Charles Cleveland Nowden was busted at a Fort Worth movie theater for trying to purchase a lethal junk-food combo meal—two hot dogs, two cokes, and popcorn—with a counterfeit $20. This week, he received an 80-year prison sentence. Fort Worth's snack community is safe again!

Justice gets at least one positive bit of justice news this week: the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 went into effect yesterday, bringing the huge disparities in sentencing for powder cocaine vs. crack cocaine somewhat closer to sane levels. According to the NYT, there was previously a 100 to one disparity between the…

Christopher "Dudus" Coke was the baddest cross-dressing drug lord in Jamaica—it literally took an army to bring him down. Now, he's about to be sentenced in New York. He'd like leniency, please. Why? Because! Stuff, and things.

After sentencing them to eight years just last month, Iranian authorities have supposedly released Americans Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer from prison today. At least that's what "a U.S. official" told CNN, to which CNN texted back, "pix or GTFO."

Without presenting any evidence whatsoever to back up their claim, Iranian authorities have sentenced American hikers Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer to five years in prison for spying for the United States. And you thought American justice was bad!

Though she escaped the death penalty in the trial over her daughter's death, Casey Anthony has been sentenced to four years in jail for lying to police during the investigation into Caylee Anthony's disappearance. A smiling Anthony wore her hair down at today's sentencing hearing—between good behavior and time served,…

Attorney general Eric Holder has come out in favor of reduced sentences for thousands of people currently imprisoned on nonviolent crack cocaine convictions. (A recent law corrected the insane sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine; Holder is simply recommending that the new sentencing guidelines be…

Under the terms of a new plea deal, actor Charlie Sheen will be sentenced to 30 days at the rehab facility where he's already stayed for a month. And he'll be credited time served. Actual "jail" time: Seconds. Meeeeen. [TMZ]

We knew Chris Brown wouldn't go to jail for beating Rihanna, so we can't say we're surprised a judge sentenced him to 1400 hours of community service this afternoon. But it's worth noting that the infamous incident wasn't isolated.

Bernie Madoff has just been sentenced to 150 years in prison for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. It was the maximum sentence the judge could have given him.

BREAKING: Conrad Black has been sentenced by a Chicago court to 6 and a half years in prison for defrauding shareholders and pocketing millions of dollars. [AP]