Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws entail binding prison terms to a minimum length for certain crimes that judges can not lower even under the most justifiable circumstances. These intransigent sentencing laws may appear as universally adaptable and a quick solution for crime. However, these laws prevent judges from suiting the punishment to the criminal according to their offenses. The outrageous idea of having a set mandatory minimum sentencing law is ridiculous. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws cause both state and federal prisons to overcrowd, extortionate tax costs, and deflect from law enforcement funds. Often times when a judge issues a sentence he or she has relatively no say on whether or not …show more content…
Sen. Rand Paul states, “Though only 5 percent of the world’s population lives in the United States, it is home to twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population. Not only does the current overpopulated, underfunded system hurt those incarcerated, it also digs deeper into the pockets of taxpaying Americans.” Natasha Frost states that, “Over the last 35 years, the United States penal system has grown at a rate unprecedented in U.S. history, five times larger than in the past and grossly out of scale with the rest of the world.” Though mandatory minimum sentencing laws seem detrimental to society, they do have their benefits. This law attempts to ensure that everyone is equal in their time served and that the judge’s personal opinion does not affect the defendant’s sentence. Furthermore, these sentences can discourage people from committing crime because they know that along with the crime, there is punishment. It can also prevent too much leniency on a criminal’s sentence. With this law, it ensures that judges are uniform in applying …show more content…
Sentences are not “one-size fits all” because different crimes deserve different punishments. A person can be framed or just be at the scene of the crime by chance and spend more than a decade in prison. Even judges are calling this a miscarriage of justice to our system. It may seem as if equality is the main component, however there is no sense of fairness to those innocent. It insinuates an atmosphere of coercion as well. What if something potentially incriminating is planted on you? You will go to jail for an extensive length of time unless you fully cooperate. While it may not be common, mandatory minimum sentencing laws could be used as a method by law enforcement to get what they want. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are going to continue to alter the U.S.’s nature of law and represents the needs of our country. The four long-established targets of punishment are: deterrence, incarceration, penalty, and rehabilitation. Are mandatory minimum sentencing laws achieving these goals? Are criminals truly getting the sentence they deserve and the rehabilitation that they need, or are these laws just serving as ineffective, fast, and mindless solutions to crimes? Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are unfair, asinine, and illogical. They offer no means of productivity in terms of decreasing incarceration rates or aiding in rehabilitation. The
Mandatory minimum sentencing laws entail binding prison terms to a minimum length for certain crimes that judges can not lower even under the most justifiable circumstances. These intransigent sentencing laws may appear as universally adaptable and a quick solution for crime. However, these laws prevent judges from suiting the punishment to the criminal according to their offenses. The outrageous idea of having a set mandatory minimum sentencing law is ridiculous. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws cause both state and federal prisons to overcrowd, extortionate tax costs, and deflect from law enforcement funds. Often times when a judge issues a sentence he or she has relatively no say on whether or not …show more content…
Sen. Rand Paul states, “Though only 5 percent of the world’s population lives in the United States, it is home to twenty-five percent of the world’s prison population. Not only does the current overpopulated, underfunded system hurt those incarcerated, it also digs deeper into the pockets of taxpaying Americans.” Natasha Frost states that, “Over the last 35 years, the United States penal system has grown at a rate unprecedented in U.S. history, five times larger than in the past and grossly out of scale with the rest of the world.” Though mandatory minimum sentencing laws seem detrimental to society, they do have their benefits. This law attempts to ensure that everyone is equal in their time served and that the judge’s personal opinion does not affect the defendant’s sentence. Furthermore, these sentences can discourage people from committing crime because they know that along with the crime, there is punishment. It can also prevent too much leniency on a criminal’s sentence. With this law, it ensures that judges are uniform in applying …show more content…
Sentences are not “one-size fits all” because different crimes deserve different punishments. A person can be framed or just be at the scene of the crime by chance and spend more than a decade in prison. Even judges are calling this a miscarriage of justice to our system. It may seem as if equality is the main component, however there is no sense of fairness to those innocent. It insinuates an atmosphere of coercion as well. What if something potentially incriminating is planted on you? You will go to jail for an extensive length of time unless you fully cooperate. While it may not be common, mandatory minimum sentencing laws could be used as a method by law enforcement to get what they want. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are going to continue to alter the U.S.’s nature of law and represents the needs of our country. The four long-established targets of punishment are: deterrence, incarceration, penalty, and rehabilitation. Are mandatory minimum sentencing laws achieving these goals? Are criminals truly getting the sentence they deserve and the rehabilitation that they need, or are these laws just serving as ineffective, fast, and mindless solutions to crimes? Mandatory minimum sentencing laws are unfair, asinine, and illogical. They offer no means of productivity in terms of decreasing incarceration rates or aiding in rehabilitation. The