While watching Law and Order or NCIS, it is common to hear about the policy known as the Mandatory Minimal Sentencing. When someone goes to court they are told how long they need to serve for their crime, the lowest and highest. The lowest is set by the Mandatory Minimal Sentencing policy. The policy impacted prisons across the country. There has been an enormous rise in the prison population, along with the guidelines causing discrimination with in the justice system. When the policy was reintroduced, it was a way to help make people feel safer in their towns. Being a main part of the war on crime, it was thought to keep criminals off the streets and in prisons. For certain crimes, like drug crimes, there would be an amount of time to be served
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(Spohn, Cassia) It is important to understand that mass incarceration and targeting P.O.C is a problem that needs to be addressed. The first step in trying to fix our justice system is addressing the policies that allows these actions to take place, one being the Mandatory Minimum Sentencing policy. Claims making is a terrific way to bring the issues up to the people who need to hear it the most. It also bring attention onto those who have fallen victim to the unintended consequences of this policy. Although, many do think this policy is great for war on drugs and war on crime, it has been shown in many studies that the levels of crime are not going down. The problem with that, though, is the amount of people in prisons is skyrocketing. "The research conducted by social scientists and legal scholars over the past four decades has provided compelling evidence that the changes in sentencing policies and practices filled our prisons to …show more content…
The first time it was seen was in the late 18th century. It was called the 1790s Crimes Act and dealt with crimes like treason or murder. The 1790s Crime Act had a lot to do with the movement back the to lower death penalties.(History of Mandatory Minimum Penalties, Chapter 2) Since this time, many changes and reforms came out for the policy. There were different versions and rules for each one. The crimes that were targeted varied depending on the times. The Civil War era had laws under this policy that dealt with the acts of slavery because those were the larger issues back then. Jumping to the more well know form of this policy, the war on
(Spohn, Cassia) It is important to understand that mass incarceration and targeting P.O.C is a problem that needs to be addressed. The first step in trying to fix our justice system is addressing the policies that allows these actions to take place, one being the Mandatory Minimum Sentencing policy. Claims making is a terrific way to bring the issues up to the people who need to hear it the most. It also bring attention onto those who have fallen victim to the unintended consequences of this policy. Although, many do think this policy is great for war on drugs and war on crime, it has been shown in many studies that the levels of crime are not going down. The problem with that, though, is the amount of people in prisons is skyrocketing. "The research conducted by social scientists and legal scholars over the past four decades has provided compelling evidence that the changes in sentencing policies and practices filled our prisons to …show more content…
The first time it was seen was in the late 18th century. It was called the 1790s Crimes Act and dealt with crimes like treason or murder. The 1790s Crime Act had a lot to do with the movement back the to lower death penalties.(History of Mandatory Minimum Penalties, Chapter 2) Since this time, many changes and reforms came out for the policy. There were different versions and rules for each one. The crimes that were targeted varied depending on the times. The Civil War era had laws under this policy that dealt with the acts of slavery because those were the larger issues back then. Jumping to the more well know form of this policy, the war on