Mandatory sentencing

The decriminalization of marijuana has already begun across several 20 of the 50 states, allowing personal consumption with many states treating violations as minor offenses similar to traffic infractions. The U.S. Sentencing Commission pinpoints marijuana as the most popular drug of choice for convicted offenders. In a 2014 survey, the Pew Research Center found that 54% of Americans feel that marijuana should be legalized, an overwhelming 76% Americans felt that, if…

President Nixon declared a “war on drugs”, and increased the size of federal drug control agencies. To help combat the use of drugs, mandatory sentencing was implemented, which granted for a first time offense a minimum sentence of 5 years in a federal prison. By the Reagan presidency, the number of non-violent drug offenders imprisoned skyrocketed from 50,000 to over 400,000 by 1997 (“A Brief…

Drug Control Policies I have considered two U.S. drug control policies that address the supply side and demand side. Conspiracy laws on the supply side have been most effective and mandatory minimums have been the least effective. First, conspiracy laws will be discussed. This paper will be on when it was developed/implemented, the policy’s goal, whom does it target, the benefits and consequences, and whether or not it is successful. Although, it is not without common law precursors, federal…

thrashed the black community again with an additional hurdle to overcome by dramatically increasing sentencing for minor drug offenses. In the eighties black…

Caravelis, Ted Chiricos, and William Bales (2011) called “Static and Dynamic Indicators of Minority Treat in Sentencing Outcomes: A Multi-Level Analysis” and the second article is called “Sentencing with Discretion:Crack Cocaine Sentencing after Booker” by Ryan S. King and Marc Mauer in 2006. In addition, the last article is by Mona Lynch and Marisa Omori (2014) called “Legal Change and Sentencing Norms in the Wake of Booker: The Impact of Time and Place on Drug Trafficking Cases in Federal…

In the early 1970's, a vast number of states transformed their sentencing protocol to new methods that seemed to be more structured as the concerns arose in the criminal justice system (Gregory & Leymon, 2010). Judicial discretion can impact determinate and indeterminate sentences as the power remains among the judge as to the severity of the sentence that will be carried out. "The forms of sentencing sanctions available to judges vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally include…

Officers make arrests based on probable cause. They use discretion when making an arrest. Prosecutors file charges if they can prove a suspect is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. They use discretion when deciding whether to charge a suspect or not. Mandatory arrest is not used anywhere else in the criminal justice system because it can remove the officer’s discretion. Advocates claim that in the past the criminal justice system has ignored…

Mass Incarceration Mass incarceration is very unique problem to the United States that has been around for several years and seems to continue to grow by the years. In the book Mass Incarceration on Trial it is stated that, “The term mass incarceration was first used by specialists in the field of punishment and society to describe the tremendous changes in the scale of incarceration that began in the late 1970s…” (Simon 3). The fact that this term has been getting attention for almost forty…

prisons, the question, have the “get-tough-on-crime” laws sent too many Americans to prison? Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the mandatory penalties given the the “non-violent” criminals are too harsh, and we as a nation need to withdraw from these punishments. The solution? Sentencing reforms. Congress has been reconsidering the “mandatory-minimum-sentencing laws” and the results could include releasing prisoners serving time for nonviolent crimes, those such as drug possession early.…

unconstitutionality of sentencing a fourteen-year-old to life without parole and the mandatory imprisonment of a life-without-parole sentence on a fourteen-year-old (Carrizales & Schultz, n.d.). Millers petition for rehearing was denied. Miller’s petition for certiorari to the Alabama Supreme Court was also denied. The Supreme Court of the United States however, did grant certiorari on November 7, 2011 (Carrizales & Schultz, n.d.). The U.S. Supreme Court would judge the case on whether…