Every year, millions of people in the United States go through the criminal justice system. This system at all levels of authority has numerous problems that it faces and provides equal punishments to those who break the law. When it comes to mandatory sentencing, many people take sides on what is considered fair and unfair. With the number of criminals rising each and every year, the justice system requires a well-balanced process for each individual case. With that being said, mandatory sentences are restrictions placed on judges when it comes to what kinds of punishment they can give to people accused of breaking the law. They limit judicial discretion, requiring that people who are convicted of certain crimes must be punished a certain
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This ultimately creates a standard of justice that is equally applied to all parties who are charged with the same crime. In today’s society, people want to be treated like equals on all levels. This provides a balance that serves the justice system’s needs in order to maintain control and organization. According to the “Drugs, Crime, and Justice” textbook (Belenko, Steven, & Spohn, Cassia 2015) the end of 2012, it was estimated that one out of every 108 adults were incarcerated also one out of 50 adults were under correctional supervision in the community (pg. 6). This brings the attention towards the overwhelming rate of prison populations that the United States faces. Mandatory sentencing helps provide prisons from being over populated even more so. To give an idea, criminals being charged for a low level offenses can be categorized by a consistent punishment for every individual that goes through the same criminal offense. So with having that consistency put in, criminals that are first time offenders could have the opportunity for parole instead of possible jail …show more content…
Some cases unfairly targets minority groups and have unjust sentencing. The common type of mandatory minimum sentences mainly aims towards drug offenses. Some of the strict controlled drugs out there can be incredibly harsh sentences for having, attempting to sell and or producing. For drugs more frequently used by the African American community, there are harsher drug sentences, then those used by the majority white population. Seen as a new form of segregation, these mandatory sentences create a jail culture of African Americans, resulting in higher rates of incarceration among adults in the community (National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention 2015). With this in mind, it creates problems within society towards the justice system. Comparing the two sides, however, the benefits created from this type of system exceeds more than negative
This ultimately creates a standard of justice that is equally applied to all parties who are charged with the same crime. In today’s society, people want to be treated like equals on all levels. This provides a balance that serves the justice system’s needs in order to maintain control and organization. According to the “Drugs, Crime, and Justice” textbook (Belenko, Steven, & Spohn, Cassia 2015) the end of 2012, it was estimated that one out of every 108 adults were incarcerated also one out of 50 adults were under correctional supervision in the community (pg. 6). This brings the attention towards the overwhelming rate of prison populations that the United States faces. Mandatory sentencing helps provide prisons from being over populated even more so. To give an idea, criminals being charged for a low level offenses can be categorized by a consistent punishment for every individual that goes through the same criminal offense. So with having that consistency put in, criminals that are first time offenders could have the opportunity for parole instead of possible jail …show more content…
Some cases unfairly targets minority groups and have unjust sentencing. The common type of mandatory minimum sentences mainly aims towards drug offenses. Some of the strict controlled drugs out there can be incredibly harsh sentences for having, attempting to sell and or producing. For drugs more frequently used by the African American community, there are harsher drug sentences, then those used by the majority white population. Seen as a new form of segregation, these mandatory sentences create a jail culture of African Americans, resulting in higher rates of incarceration among adults in the community (National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention 2015). With this in mind, it creates problems within society towards the justice system. Comparing the two sides, however, the benefits created from this type of system exceeds more than negative