Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws Should Be Legal

As Americans, we live one of the greatest countries in the world. Things are not perfect, but they can range from good to great. However, there is one area that seems to continuously fall behind our great national standard. This area is the level of people that to fill up our prison system. The United States has only five percent of the world s population, but it has houses 25 percent of its prisoners, which is around 2.2 million people (Collier, 2014). One of the main reasons the United States has become the prison capital of the world is due to the hard stance on all drugs. This stance led to the use of mandatory minimum sentencing laws to keep drug offenders locked up for longer than they should be. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are laws that require binding prison terms of a particular length for people convicted of certain federal and state crimes. Most mandatory minimum sentences apply to drug offenses, but Congress has enacted them for other crimes, including certain gun, pornography, and economic offenses. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on the mandatory minimum drug laws. These laws were designed to keep people locked up for crimes that sometimes don’t fit the punishment. This can be seen in the rising incarceration rates throughout the country. These laws not only damage the lives of the convicted, but also their families and the communities they come from. While the intentions of the men who enacted these laws were pure, they have failed toShow MoreRelatedMandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws Should Be Legal Essay1217 Words   |  5 PagesMandatory minimum sentencing laws entail binding prison terms to a certain length for people who have been co nvicted of state or federal crimes. These intransigent, â€Å"universally adaptable† sentencing laws may seem like an easy and quick solution for crime. However, these laws prevent judges from suiting the punishment to the criminal according to their offenses. Mandatory minimum sentencing causes not only state but federal prisons to overcrowd, extortionate tax costs, and deflect from law enforcementRead MoreThe Concept Of Mandatory Sentencing1096 Words   |  5 PagesThe concept of mandatory sentencing is a relatively new idea in the legal field. It was first introduced in 1951 with the Boggs Act, and it made simple marijuana possession a minimum of two to ten years with a $20,000 fine. This was eventually repealed by Congress in 1970, but mandatory sentences came back with the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Since then, the scope and presence of mandatory sentencing has only grown, especially mandatory sentences for drug related offenses. RecentlyRead MoreThe Fe deral Mandatory Minimum Sentencing978 Words   |  4 Pagesmethod of sentencing criminals was the establishment of the mandatory minimum sentencing. During the early days of the republic, specific sentences were carried out for certain crime and early mandatory sentences the forms of punishment used at the time stretched from ducking stools/cucking stools for disorderly women and dishonest tradesmen in England, Soctland to hanging for convicted murderers. However, in recent years, evidence gathered have shown that the federal mandatory minimum sentencing wereRead MoreAbolishing Mandatory Minimum Sentencing On The United States1690 Words   |  7 PagesAbolishing Mandatory Minimum Sentencing in the United States EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The concept of mandatory minimum sentencing has been plaguing the justice system of the United States of America for too many years and therefore must be abolished. If mandatory minimum sentencing were to be done away with, then the criminal justice system could finally start to bring desperately needed change to itself and start to get back to where it needs to be; a system that takes people with a problem andRead MorePrison Blues : How America s Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety1033 Words   |  5 PagesRehnquist, a former Supreme Court Justice, stated his opinion of minimum sentencing during an often cited speech. As stated in his book Prison blues: How America s Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety, David Kopek credits Rehnquist with stating: These mandatory minimum sentences are perhaps a good example of the law of unintended consequences. There is a respectable body of opinion which believes that these mandatory minimums impose unduly harsh punishment for first-time offenders -- particularlyRead MoreCriminal Justice Outline1660 Words   |  7 PagesArraignment- Guidelines and Process of Law b. Trial- Judge and Supreme court roles c. Sentencing – 3 types Sentencing a. Determinate- pros and cons b. Indeterminate- pros and cons c. Mandatory- pros and cons d. Specific or general deterrence Determinate sentencing a. Time- Each punishment is set person to person regardless b. Punishment- does not discriminate c. Community- deter people from committing it again Indeterminate Sentencing a. Courts and judges role in helpingRead MoreMandatory Minimum Sentences For Nonviolent Drug Crimes Essay1644 Words   |  7 PagesMandatory Minimum Sentences For the vast majority of crimes committed in the United States, the fate of those who have been found guilty is left in the hands of a judge, after a trial by jury. However, since the 1950’s the fate of nonviolent drug offenders has been shifted to the hands of the partisan prosecution with the expansion of mandatory sentencing. Mandatory minimum sentencing is a system which sets minimum jail sentences for crimes, which not even judges can overturn. In the decades afterRead MoreFences Of Mandatory Sentencing1923 Words   |  8 Pages3.1 Offences where Mandatory Sentencing is Applied Mandatory sentencing currently applies for many offences. Stated in the CCA, section 279(4), adults who are guilty of murder must be sentenced to life imprisonment. Under section 90(1a) of the SA it also states life imprisonment must be imposed with a minimum of 15 years without parole. Section 318(2) of the CCA states if a person is over 16 but under 18 and committs a serious assult against any officer (police, transit, security etc) a term of detentionRead MoreIt s Time For Re Think Mandatory Minimums1607 Words   |  7 PagesIt’s Time to Re-think Mandatory Minimums During the mid-1980’s an epidemic of cocaine and crack swept the nation leaving many wondering what could be done to eliminate this problem that reached everywhere from small town middle America to the larger metropolitan areas. It has always been the common acceptance that by putting more offenders in jail, crime statistics will decrease. This belief led congress to enact the anti-drug abuse act of 1986. At first, it was believed that this seemed to workRead MoreMandatory Sentencing For Minor Drug Offences957 Words   |  4 Pagesdollars later, we are still fighting this war (Branson). All that we have to show for this war is drugs running rampant and tons of citizens incarcerated. Mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences should be overturned due to overflowing prisons, damaging families, and the scare tactic it was created to be has failed. Due to mandatory sentencing for minor drug offences, the American prison system is overflowing with inmates. According to E. Ann Carson, a Statistician for the Bureau of Justice Statistics